Dark Shadows 2: Chapter 1
by WhyTK
Summary: My idea of a sequel to Tim Burton's version of Dark Shadows.
1. Chapter 1

**I am publishing my idea of _Dark Shadows 2_ even though I have not yet finished my prequels to Tim Burton's version of _Dark Shadows_. ****_Dark Shadows 2 _is a sequel to both Burton's_ Shadows _****[including the deleted scenes on the Blu-Ray disc] and the fanfiction "Pretty Young Thing" by NichtBenz. I hope it meets with her approval. **

**Tim Burton's version of ****_Dark Shadows _****is a horror comedy. People who know me will tell you that I am pretty funny. But what I am writing for ****_Dark Shadows 2_**** is mostly a tearjerker. I leave it to Burton, Depp &amp; Co. to supply most of the jokes, if they make this into a movie. I can dream can't I?**

**The story of ****_Dark Shadows2_**** will be told mostly in flashbacks. **

**I am using many character names from the original ****_Dark Shadows_**** and the 1991 remake. But none of these characters are what they were in those previous versions of ****_Dark Shadows_****. And in some cases I have combined the 1st name of one character with the last name of another. **

**The name in parenthesis following the 1st mention of a character is the actor who would play that character in a movie version of this story. For example, "Rachel Drummond (Kathryn Leigh Scott)" means that Kathryn Leigh Scott would play Rachel Drummond. **

**Most of these actors, including Kathryn Leigh Scott, appeared in either the original ****_Dark Shadows_**** or the 1991 prime-time remake. ****For more information about these characters and the actors who played them, see darkshadowswikia dot com. **

**I do not own ****_Dark Shadows_**** or any of its characters, institutions, or entities. **

**_Dark Shadows 2: _Chapter 1  
**A crowd of people sit on folding chairs in a large hall. At the front of the room is a long table covered with a white cloth and vases of flowers. At the left front of the hall is an electric organ.

One of the people in the crowd is Rachel Drummond (Kathryn Leigh Scott), proprietor of the Collinsport Inn. She wears black because she is recently widowed. Jonathan Drummond, her late husband, was played by the late Jonathan Frid in Tim Burton's 1st _Dark Shadows_ movie. Jonathan Drummond was the publisher and retired editor of the _Collinsport Star_.

Sitting to Rachel's left is George Patterson (Roger Davis), Rachel's escort for the evening. He too is widowed. He is an old beau of Rachel's - and the Collinsport Chief of Police. He wears his dress uniform, including badge and revolver. Sheriff Bill Malloy (William Hope) is also present, also in his dress uniform, and accompanied by his wife.

To Chief Patterson's left are Rachel's sister Alexis (Lara Parker) and Alexis's husband Quentin Bradford (David Selby).

Catherine Harridge (Joanna Going) sits to Rachel's right. She is the Collins family's insurance agent. Sitting beside her is Jeff Clark (Ben Cross), a Fire Investigator with the Maine State Fire Marshall's Office. Catherine and Jeff had a lot of work to do when Elizabeth filed claims on the cannery and Collinwood. Barnabas's hypnotism helped them come to the right conclusions about the fires, but it played no part in making them a couple.

The crowd also includes Kendrick (John Karlen) and Millicent (Nancy Barrett) Harridge. Kendrick is President of Harridge Construction Co., which restored Collinwood and rebuilt the Collins Cannery. Millicent is a successful real estate agent.

The people are talking quietly among themselves. They fall silent when Carolyn, David, Barnabas, and Elizabeth enter from the rear of the room and walk down the center aisle. Carolyn carries a bouquet of flowers. Elizabeth carries a book.

When they reach the front of the room Carolyn turns left, and stops behind the organ. David and Barnabas turn right, and Elizabeth stops at the front of the aisle. They all turn to face the crowd.

Elizabeth says, "Good evening friends. Thank you for joining us here tonight for this joyous occasion. Please rise."

As the guests rise, Carolyn lays her bouquet on top of the organ. Then she sits down at the organ and begins to play. At the first notes of the music, the guests turn around to watch Josette Victoria walking down the aisle on the arm of Willie Loomis. She wears a wedding dress.

In a movie version of this story, the wedding dress, not the music, will be what tips off the movie audience that this is a wedding: Carolyn plays "Josette's Theme" instead of "Here Comes the Bride."

If this is ever in a movie, the 1st few lines of the opening titles, from  
"Warner Brothers Pictures Presents ... "  
to  
"A Tim Burton Film  
Johnny Depp"  
will appear during the shots of the guests in their seats and the shots of Carolyn, David, Barnabas, and Elizabeth entering.

The title  
_"Dark Shadows 2"  
_will appear with the 1st shot of Josette Victoria walking down the aisle in her wedding dress.

Willie is sober, but he still has a hard time walking a straight line down the aisle because he is overcome with emotion. Because of his drinking, he never married and never begot any children. So he never dreamed of being in this position. His determination to do it right gets him to the end of the aisle without a single stumble.

There are tears in Carolyn's eyes too, but they do not interfere with her playing. She knew this music by heart long before she met Vicky and Barnabas.

When Josette Victoria and Willie reach the end of the aisle, Carolyn rises and stands beside Willie. She is the maid of honor as well as the organist.

Elizabeth says, "Please be seated." After the guests resume their seats, she opens the book and says, "Dearly beloved. We are gathered here tonight, in the sight of God and the face of this company, to join this man and this woman in matrimony." In spite of invoking the name of God a moment earlier, she is careful not to say "holy matrimony."

**The Primary Flashback begins:  
****The Night of the Collins Fires (which sounds like an episode of ****_The Wild Wild West_****): Rachel's Story  
**Rachel Drummond and many other townspeople are gathered in front of the Collinsport Inn. They are talking about the fires, and the tape Angelique played at the cannery fire, and the crazy things some of them saw and heard in front of Collinwood.

To the North, they can see Collinwood burning on its hill overlooking the town. A little East of North, they can see the glow of the cannery fire above the buildings between it and the Inn.

Rachel is the voice of reason in this mob, saying "A vampire? A witch? Don't be ridiculous. And if the Collins family had murder victims to dispose of, which they don't, why burn their own cannery to do it? Collinwood's back yard is the Atlantic Ocean, it could swallow a billion bodies and show no trace of them."

A car horn sounds off camera, and the crowd in the Inn's driveway parts to let the Collins' Chevy pass through. Elizabeth (at the wheel), David, and Mrs. Johnson are the only occupants.

Rachel runs toward the car as Elizabeth gets out. Rachel stops suddenly when she sees only the 3 of them. "Liz! Oh my God, Liz, what ... "

Elizabeth interrupts her. "It's all right, Rachel. We all got out safely." She raises her voice and turns to crowd. "Angelique set fire to the cannery and tried to frame us all for murder. When that didn't work, she tried to kill us all by setting fire to Collinwood. We got out. She didn't."

During the conversation that follows, the crowd gradually disperses.

Rachel asks, "But where are Carolyn and Willie and ..."

Elizabeth interrupts her again. "Angelique knocked Carolyn and Willie out cold. I took them to the Emergency Room for head X-rays and twenty-four hours observation. Vicky ... Vicky was last seen headed for Widow's Hill. Barnabas went after her."

Rachel is shocked. "Why on earth would she do that?"

"She never talks about her past or her family. I got the feeling she was happier at Collinwood than she had ever been before. Seeing it burn must have hurt her as much as it did us. Rachel ... " Elizabeth swallows hard. It hurts her pride to ask this. " ... Rachel, I need rooms ... for David and Mrs. Johnson now, for Barnabas and Vicky if I find them. And I have to ask you to put it on my tab until I find out how the bank handles a big depositor whose checkbook and drivers license have gone up in smoke."

"David, Mrs. Johnson, come in with me. Liz, I'll get them settled, if you want to go back to Collinwood to check on Vicky and Barnabas. And I'll have a room ready for you when you get back."

"Thank you, Rachel. But there's a vacant bed in Carolyn's hospital room. I'll be sleeping there tonight, if I sleep at all." She hugs Rachel and kisses her on the cheek. "Thank you so much. God bless you." She turns to David. "David, you mind Mrs. Drummond."

"OK, Aunt Liz. Vicky and Uncle Barnabas are all right. I know it."

Elizabeth hugs and kisses David and Mrs. Johnson, then drives away.

Rachel asks, "David, Barnabas is your distant cousin. Why did you call him 'Uncle' ?"

David smiles at Rachel. "It's a long story, Mrs. Drummond. And you wouldn't believe it if I told you."

* * *

Rachel lends one of her own nightgowns to Mrs. Johnson and shows her to a room in the Inn. She takes David to the guest room of the Innkeeper's private quarters.

"David, my grandchildren sometimes stay overnight on short notice, so I might have some pajamas that will fit you."

They do fit.

"Thank you for everything, Mrs. Drummond," David says as he gets into bed.

"You're welcome, David," Rachel replies as she tucks him in. "David, I am so sorry about the fire and everything you lost tonight."

"Thank you, Mrs. Drummond. But we all got out safely. That's the important thing, right?"

"Yes it is, David." She kisses him on the forehead. "Do you want me to leave a light on? Or to leave the door open and the hall light on?"

"No thank you. I'm not afraid of the dark."

"Good for you, David." She kisses him again. "Good night."

"Good night, Mrs. Drummond."

Rachel turns off the light and shuts the door behind her. She is 2 steps down the hall when she hears a woman's voice singing in David's room. She runs back, opens the door and says, "David?!" David is alone in the room. "I'm sorry, David. I thought I heard a woman singing in here."

"That was my Mom singing 'Millicent's Lullaby.' It's an old Collins family tradition. You must have really strong antenna if you could hear her."

"Strong antenna? David, your mother ... " Something [her strong antenna again?] tells Rachel not to go there. "I'm sorry I disturbed you, David. Good night again."

Rachel turns off the light and closes the door again. A few seconds later the singing starts again. Rachel shivers, and then goes to her husband's room to see if all the commotion, inside and out, has awakened him. If it has, he will want to know what's going on. You can take the man out of the newspaper, but you can't take the newspaper out of the man.

* * *

**The Night of the Collins Fires: Elizabeth's Story  
**Elizabeth stops the Chevy and gets out at the far end of the circular drive in front of Collinwood, to make sure none of the collapsing stone work lands on her or the car.

She leaves the headlamps on. She holds her hand up in front of her to block her view of the burning manor. Earlier, she and her family had stared at it. Now, she can't bear the sight of it.

She calls out, "Barnabas! Vicki!"

"We are here, Elizabeth," says Barnabas as he and Josette step out of the dark shadows and into the luminance from the headlamps.

Elizabeth begins, "Thank God you're all ..." Then she sees that Vicki is not as she once was. "Oh my God! My God, Barnabas, what have you done!?"

"What I forced him to do," says Josette, with a smile. "I jumped from Widow's Hill to force him to make me like him. Now we will be together forever, just as he promised, so long ago."

"Vicki ... Vicki, I hope you're sure this is what you want. This is one thing even a woman can't change her mind about. And what do you mean, so long ago?"

"I am sure, Elizabeth. I am sure that I love him. I am sure that I want to be with him, forever."

"My dear," says Barnabas, "aren't you going to tell her your name?"

"She already knows my name."

"Name?" says Elizabeth. Barnabas looks puzzled too.

Josette smiles at Elizabeth. She turns to Barnabas and says, "I am doubly blessed. I met my one true love for the first time ... twice.  
Josette first met you in the year 1776.  
Victoria first met you in the year 1972.  
Now I am once again Josette, but I am also still Victoria." She raises her hand to Barnabas's face, just as she did at the bottom of Widow's Hill. "When you first met Victoria, you said the name was so beautiful you could not bear to part with a single syllable of it. Surely you cannot bear to part with all of it."

Barnabas kisses her hand.

Josette turns to Elizabeth (who looks a bit dazed by now), and says, "Madam, allow me to introduce myself." She speaks in the same tone she used when she named herself Victoria Winters on the train to Collinsport, but with even greater confidence. "My name is Josette Victoria DuPres Winters." She curtsies. "At your service, Madam."

Elizabeth slowly says, "Josette DuPres ... so long ago ... My, God, I saw that portrait nearly every day of my life, and I never noticed the resemblance until now." She takes a deep breath, then takes a step forward and offers her hand. "It is an honor to meet you, Josette Victoria. May I continue to call you Vicki?"

"Of course," says Josette Victoria, smiling as she reaches for Elizabeth's hand.

"Gently, my dear," Barnabas warns. "You are now much stronger than you were before ... before I changed you."

Josette Victoria very gently shakes Elizabeth's hand. She realizes she must learn how to use these long, new fingers.

"Barnabas, I have taken rooms at the Collinsport Inn," says Elizabeth. "Shall we go?"

"Thank you, Elizabeth, but that will not be necessary for us. Josette Victoria and I will spend the daylight hours in the cave at the foot of Widow's Hill. But tonight there is work we must do. Tell me, please, who is the most evil member of Angel Bay's board of directors?"

"That's easy. Nicholas Blair."

"Please drive us to a position near his house. Near his house, not at his house. No one must see your automobile in front of his house."

Elizabeth is puzzled, but says, "All right Barnabas." She starts towards the Chevy, and then says, "Wait a minute." Elizabeth gets into the driver's seat of Angelique's Barracuda convertible. The 1st thing she sees is the tape recorder on the passenger seat. "What the hell?" she asks herself.

As she expected, the keys are in the switch, although it takes her a few seconds to find the switch. These new fangled cars have the switch on the steering column, not on the dash like her old Chevy. She takes the keys. Then she looks at the tape recorder again and takes it too.

They enter the Chevy, Elizabeth and Josette Victoria in front, Barnabas in the right rear.

When Barnabas sees the tape recorder in Elizabeth's hand, he asks, "Is that not a music box like the one that plays in the cups on Miss Carolyn's ears?"

"Yes, Barnabas. I found it in Angie's car when I got her keys so I can give them to the Sheriff. I wonder what it was doing there."

Elizabeth pushes the REWIND button. The tape clunks to a stop in less than a second. Elizabeth pushes STOP and then PLAY.

"YES, I KILLED DOCTOR HOFFMAN AND THE WORKMEN AND THOSE VERY NICE UNSHAVEN YOUNG PEOPLE."

Elizabeth screams, "BARNABAS!" It is a shriek from the very bottom of her soul.

Barnabas sits in stunned silence for a moment. Then he says, "I am sorry, Elizabeth. It's true. Dr. Hoffman claimed she might cure my curse with transfusions of her blood. Instead, she sought to make herself immortal by pouring my blood into her own veins. When I caught her at it ... I killed her."

"God damn you! God damn you, you mother f***ing son of a bitch!" Elizabeth puts her face in her hands and sobs, sobs as if she was in the worst possible physical pain.

"I loved her," Elizabeth thinks, with the small part of her mind that is still capable of thought. "If I am this angry at Barnabas and this overwhelmed with grief, then I really did love Julia. And now I can never tell her." She cries so hard it hurts, physically hurts.

Elizabeth's shocking obscenities leave Barnabas stunned for an even longer time. "I deserve your anger, Madam. No matter how great my anger at Dr. Hoffman, it was no excuse for breaking my word to you that no one under the roof of Collinwood need fear my cursed nature."

Barnabas gets out and opens Josette's door. "Come, my dear. We will find Mr. Blair's house on our own."

But before Victoria can comply, Elizabeth speaks, gasping for breath between sobs. "Barnabas, get back in the car."

"Elizabeth ... "

"Shut the f*** up and get in the car!"

Barnabas meekly obeys.

Elizabeth turns in her seat and hands the tape recorder to Barnabas. She wants to throw it in his face. But that might break something off the tape recorder, and they would have to search the car for every little piece.

Still gasping for breath between sobs, Elizabeth says, "Throw it in the fire. Make sure it is utterly destroyed." She turns away from Barnabas and resumes sobbing with all her strength.

Barnabas is a very puzzled vampire as he walks back to the burning manor to carry out Elizabeth's order. "Elizabeth's anger at me for breaking my word to her is understandable. But her sobs for Dr. Hoffmann are most perplexing. The woman was a servant, not a member of the family. Granted, the family physician is a servant of elevated status, just as my dear Victoria was in her position as Master David's governess. But that is no reason for such an outpouring of grief at her demise."

Victoria understands. She clearly remembers her encounter with Dr. Hoffman after the 2nd time she saw the ghost of Josette - her other self - fall from the chandelier into the wavy floor below.

Dr. Hoffman had said, " ... I've got plenty of room on my couch, if you ever want to talk. Flexible office hours too."  
And, "You know, honey, everyone in this house has at least one big, scary secret," while gently touching Vicki's shoulder and hair. Now Josette Victoria knows what Elizabeth's and Dr. Hoffman's secret was. And there had been times at Windcliff ...

"Barnabas and I have been together for less than an hour, and I already have a secret I must keep from him." Josette feels guilty about this, but it is not her secret to tell, and so she never will tell it.

And she also clearly remembers all the times Maggie Evans had cried at Windcliff, cried alone, with no one to comfort her. No one who was corporeal, anyway.

"Elizabeth," Vicki says. "My shoulder is cold and wet, but it is here if you need it."

With no hesitation, Elizabeth turns and lays her head on Vicki's shoulder. She holds on with both hands, desperate for the comfort Vicki is offering. Vicki puts her arms around her.

And then Josette Victoria realizes that she has made a terrible mistake. "Oh my God. Elizabeth, let go. Let go!" She pushes Elizabeth away and gets out of the car. She backs away from the car, but never takes her eyes off of Elizabeth.

Elizabeth stares at Vicki with eyes full of tears and a heart full of pain. Eyes so full of tears that she can not clearly see the look on Vicki's face. A heart so full of pain that she can think of nothing else. "Vicki ... Vicki, what ... "

In a voice Elizabeth has never heard before, Josette Victoria says, "I am thirsty, Elizabeth. I am _very_ thirsty." And she slowly moves back toward the car.

Elizabeth feels the blood fleeing from her skin, leaving it cold and pale. Until this moment, only her brain has known that Vicki is a vampire. Now she knows it in her heart and her guts.

"JOSETTE!" When Barnabas turned back toward the car after carrying out Elizabeth's order, he saw Josette standing next to the car. And something about how she stood told him something was terribly wrong. He cries out and rushes to her side with such speed he is blur, just as he was when he snatched David out from under the falling mirror ball.

One look at Josette's face and Barnabas knows what is wrong. He is relieved to see no blood on her mouth. He looks at Elizabeth and is even more relieved to see that she is white with fear, not exsanguination.

"Barnabas!" cries Josette Victoria. "I'm thirsty! Oh God, I am so thirsty! Help me, Barnabas! Please help me!" She clings to him and weeps tears of blood, just as Barnabas did at the bottom of Widow's Hill after he awoke as a vampire.

"Elizabeth, it is more imperative than ever that we pay a call on this Mr. Blair. May we get into your Chevy?"

Between sobs, Elizabeth gasps for the breath to speak. "Both of you get in the back. You first, Barnabas, so you can stop her if she ... I'm sorry, Vicki, but I want Barnabas between us in case ... in case ... "

"Don't apologize, Elizabeth," Vicki replies between sobs. "I don't want to hurt you ... but ... but ... "

"Come, Josette," says Barnabas as he gets in the back seat. "I will hold you all the way there."

Josette follows Barnabas into the car and he holds her tight.

But Elizabeth is still crying. "Barnabas, I can't drive like this. You must hypnotize me, make me calm down enough to drive."

"Look at me, Elizabeth," says Barnabas.

Elizabeth turns in the driver's seat.

"Look into my eyes," says Barnabas as he holds Josette Victoria with one hand and waves the fingers of the other hand at Elizabeth. "You will calm yourself. You will save your grief for Dr. Hoffman and your anger at me for another time. You will drive us to a corner two blocks from the home of this Nicholas Blair. And you will deliver me all that you know about him as we go."

"Yes, Barnabas," Elizabeth replies. Then she turns back around and fastens her seatbelt.

* * *

After dropping off Barnabas and Vicki, Elizabeth drives to the cannery. As she expected and hoped, Sheriff Bill Malloy returned to the fire after retreating from Collinwood, and the unbelievable things he saw there. Many of the people in the mob have returned here too.

The mob parts silently in front of Elizabeth as she moves toward the Sheriff. Elizabeth has stopped crying, but her eyes are red and puffy and the tracks of her tears are clearly visible. "Let them make of that what they will," she thinks.

Malloy is watching the fire when he hears Elizabeth's voice behind him say, "Bill."

He turns and struggles for something to say. But Elizabeth speaks 1st, and loud enough to be heard by the crowd. "Angelique is dead. She set fire to the cannery and tried to frame us all for murder. When that didn't work, she tried to kill us all by setting fire to Collinwood. We got out. She didn't."

"I'm glad you're all safe, Liz."

"I didn't say we were all safe. Angelique knocked Carolyn and Willie out cold. They're in the hospital for 24 hours observation. It remains to be seen if they are all right."

She hands Angelique's keys to Malloy. "I took these from Angelique's car. Please give them to the executor of her estate, whoever that turns out to be."

"I'll write you a receipt, Liz."

"Tomorrow. I have to get back to Carolyn. And the sworn statements will have to wait until tomorrow too. None of us is in any condition to talk tonight. Good night, Bill."

* * *

When Elizabeth returns to the hospital, the nurse says, "Thank God you're back, Mrs. Stoddard. Carolyn won't lie still. She's pacing her room like a caged animal."

Elizabeth runs. Her feet hurt from carrying Carolyn out of Collinwood in high heels, but she runs.

When Elizabeth enters Carolyn's room, Carolyn cries "Mom!" and rushes to her. They hold each other tight. "Mom! I was so afraid here alone."

"You afraid? The girl who fought Angelique literally tooth and claw afraid of being alone? That's hard to believe."

"It's easy to be brave when you're fighting for your family ... especially if you're fighting as a werewolf."

"Carolyn fighting for her family," Elizabeth thinks. "A few hours ago I would have laughed at the very idea of that."

The nurse has caught up and is standing in the door. "Mrs. Stoddard, would you like that sleeping pill now?" The doctor had prescribed it for Elizabeth during her earlier trip to the hospital.

"Yes, thank you."

"Vicki and Barnabas, are they all right?" Carolyn asks.

"Yes, honey, they are," Elizabeth says aloud. To herself, she says, "Let Carolyn sleep tonight. I'll tell her about Vicki's change tomorrow. And how do I tell her about Julia? She never really liked Julia, but how will she react to what Barnabas did?"

The nurse soon returns with the sleeping pill in a little cup. She pours water from the bedside pitcher into another cup. "Good night, Carolyn. Good night, Mrs. Stoddard. I'm so sorry about your house and everything."

"Thank you, Nurse. Good night." To Carolyn, Elizabeth says, "I have to make two phone calls. Then we'll get some sleep." She picks up the phone and waits for the hospital operator.

First, she calls Rachel at the Inn. She says, "Please tell David that Vicki and Barnabas are OK." She thinks, "I'll tell him about Vicki's change tomorrow. And how will David react to what Barnabas did to Julia?"

"May I tell him in the morning?" Rachel asks. "He was sound asleep the last time I checked on him."

"Yes, please tell him in the morning. Sleep is the best thing for him right now. Thank you, Rachel. Good night."

Elizabeth wants to call Tony Peterson, her lawyer. But he went to Portland on business today and is spending the night there. She will have to see him tomorrow.

Finally, Elizabeth calls Roxanne Drew, her secretary.

"H-Hello?" Roxanne's voice sounds shaky.

"Roxanne, it's Elizabeth."

"Miss Elizabeth!" Roxanne cries. "Miss Elizabeth! Are you all right? Is your family all right?"

"Yes, Roxanne, thank you. Angelique set fire to the cannery and tried to frame us all for murder. When that didn't work, she tried to kill us all by setting fire to Collinwood. We got out. She didn't."

She spoke these words sternly to the crowd in front of the Collinsport Inn and the crowd at the cannery fire. She speaks them gently to Roxanne.

"Thank God, Miss Elizabeth, thank God!"

"Roxanne, I'll need your help tomorrow."

"Anything, Miss Elizabeth, just name it."

"Angelique knocked Carolyn and Willie out cold. They're in the hospital for 24 hours of observation. There's a vacant bed in Carolyn's room. I'm sleeping there, or at least trying to. Even with a sleeping pill, I don't think I'll get much sleep. I expect to be groggy tomorrow, and I have a lot to do. Can you drive me?"

"Where and when? Just name it."

"Catherine Harridge opens her insurance office at 8AM. Can you pick me up at the hospital 10 minutes before that?"

"I'll be there, Miss Elizabeth. Thank God you and your family are all right."

"Thank you, Roxanne, and God bless you. Good night."

"Good night, Miss Elizabeth."

Carolyn paced the floor while Elizabeth was on the phone. Elizabeth hopes Carolyn is tired enough by now to sleep. But do werewolves get tired, even when in human form? "Come on, Carolyn," she says. "Get into bed."

Carolyn obeys and Elizabeth tucks her in. Carolyn says, "Mom, I'm a big girl now. But would you sing 'Millicent's Lullaby' to me, like you did when I was little?"

"Carolyn, I am a _very_ big girl, but I could use a lullaby myself tonight. Would you sing it back to me?"

With tears in their eyes and holding each other tight, mother and daughter sing "Millicent's Lullaby" to each other, while Elizabeth thinks, "I have my baby back. Dear God, thank you we all got out safely, thank you that I have my baby back."

* * *

Elizabeth dreams of copies.

Carbon paper.  
Mimeograph machines.  
Xerox machines.  
Egyptian and Greek and Medieval scribes copying scrolls and books by hand in the bad old days before Gutenberg.

Carolyn propping the microphone of her tape recorder in front of a stereo speaker so she can take that music with her without buying the tape as well as the LP ...

**NOTES  
**A. "Josette's Theme" was a staple of the music in the original _Dark Shadows _and the 1991 remake. If you are not familiar with it, go to youtube and search "josette's music box." The hits will include 2 scenes from the 1991 remake of _Dark Shadows_:  
1\. **1991 Dark Shadows Revival-Barnabas gives Victoria Josette's Music Box  
**2\. **1991 Dark Shadows Revival - Barnabas give Josette a music box**

The 1st scene plays the music longer, and they actually dance the minuet to it.

Months ago, when I began writing _DS2_, those 2 scenes were close together on youtube. Now the 1st scene is still near the beginning of the list, but I don't know where the 2nd scene is. Both of them were posted by playitagainsam15401. I suggest you watch the 1st scene and then click on playitagainsam15401 to find the 2nd scene quickly and easily.

B. In the original _Dark Shadows_, Kathryn Leigh Scott played Maggie Evans and Josette DuPres. Actually, she played the ghost of Josette before she played the living Josette. That is why Rachel's antenna in my story is strong enough to hear David's mother singing to him.

Ms. Scott also played Rachel Drummond, a governess at Collinwood in the 1897 storyline in the original _Dark Shadows_. As I interpret Tim Burton's version of _Dark Shadows_, Jonathan Frid and Kathryn Leigh Scott played Jonathan and Rachel Drummond, Innkeepers, in the Happening scene. This is inspired by the "backstory" Ms. Scott devised for her character in Burton's _Shadows_. You can read it on pages 35-36 of her book _Dark Shadows:_ _Return to Collinwood_ [Pomegranate Press, 2012]. If Ms. Scott ever reads this, I hope she will forgive the liberties I have taken with her backstory.

C. Even in human form, Carolyn heals faster than a fully human girl. But Elizabeth is Carolyn's MOTHER, and insists on taking her to the hospital. The doctor orders head X-rays and 24 hours of observation, and Elizabeth insists that Carolyn stay for them.


	2. Chapter 2 Dark Shadows 2: Chapter 2

**The Primary Flashback continues:  
****The Night of the Collins Fires: Barnabas and Josette Victoria's Story **

Elizabeth delivers Barnabas all she knows, and all she suspects, about Nicholas Blair. Then she delivers Barnabas and Vicki the cover story she devised on the way to the hospital, a story she drilled into the children and the servants.

* * *

Nicholas Blair is the grandfather of little Nicky Blair. On Carolyn's 1st day of kindergarten, little Nicky whispered in another boy's ear, "Her mommy is Elizabitch Collins Stoddard," which bought him a punch in the mouth from Carolyn. [See "Elizabeth's Secret, Chapter 4."] Elizabeth has always suspected that little Nicky got "Elizabitch" from his father or grandfather or both. Her suspicion is correct.

Blair's 1st wife died of a broken neck when she fell down the cellar stairs of their house. No one in town was surprised when the autopsy showed she was drunk. But those her knew her well, especially her children, were astonished that she was on those stairs at all. She had always feared and hated the cellar of that house and had never set foot in it.

Police Chief George Patterson investigated and found nothing, so the case was closed and Mrs. Blair's death was ruled an accident. But he too was suspicious. The Blair children, knowing which side their bread was buttered on, did not pursue the matter any further. But they added this to the reasons they hated their father.

Blair and his secretary/girlfriend were not nearly as clever as they thought they were. But Angie covered up their mistakes, and then delighted in tormenting Blair at board meetings with irrelevant remarks about his wife's death and hints of what Angie knew about it.

To the disgust of his children, Blair married his secretary just 6 months after the death of the 1st Mrs. Blair. Angie spent most of the ceremony snickering. Within a year of the wedding, the 2nd Mrs. Blair went to fat on a diet of bonbons and bourbon. Blair then fired his 1st new secretary, whom he had hired for her competence, and hired another new secretary strictly for her looks.

The 2nd Mrs. Blair did not object to this. "I married him for his money and his position, not his c***," she truthfully told herself. "The more he f***s her, the less he f***s me. And that's fine with me."

As Barnabas and Josette Victoria approach Blair's house, he tells her, "My dear Josette, you must _persuade_ Mr. Blair to invite you into his house. When a human is safely behind the threshold of his dwelling, you cannot hypnotize him, not for any purpose. If you catch him _outside_, then you can make him your servant and order him to invite you across the threshold as soon as he crosses it himself. That is what I did with Willie on the night I returned to Collinwood after two centuries of being buried 'alive,' if you will pardon the expression.

"As soon as you are inside, hypnotize Mr. Blair and order him to invite me in. And I am sorry to say that you must fight your thirst a bit longer. We need Mr. Blair alive for a time."

"I understand, my love," Josette Victoria replies. She kisses Barnabas and then approaches Blair's door, while Barnabas waits close by. Josette Victoria steels herself to fight her thirst a little longer.

It is Josette Victoria and not Barnabas who rings Blair's doorbell because Blair's suspicion would be instantly aroused by the sight of Barnabas. They are hoping that the sight of a pretty girl will arouse other feelings in him, feelings that will overcome any suspicions aroused by the fact that the girl has the same kabuki skin and raccoon eyes as Barnabas Collins.

It proves easier than either of them dared hoped. It is the 2nd Mrs. Blair who comes to the door, with one drink in her hand and more than one in her gut. And a cigarette in her mouth.

"Mrs. Blair?" says Josette. "My name is Maggie Evans." It amuses Josette to use Victoria's once real name as an alias. "I have an urgent message for your husband. A message from _Angie_."

"Why are you dripping wet, lady?" Mrs. Blair asks. She is not really interested in why the pale-faced-bitch at the door is wet. She is taking the time to ask just to prove to herself that she is not so frightened of Angie that she will acquiesce instantly to a weird looking messenger girl from her.

"I fell off the boat while doing what _Angie told me to do_. I apologize for calling on you so late and while looking so sloppy. But the message for your husband _is _urgent and I could not take the time to change."

"So come in already," Mrs. Blair says. She is thinking, "And let me get back to my drinking." She doesn't care if the messenger girl drips all over the carpet. Cleaning up is the maid's problem.

Barnabas said nothing about keeping the 2nd Mrs. Blair alive, so Josette attacks as soon as she is across the threshold. With Josette's hand around her windpipe, the only sound the 2nd Mrs. Blair makes is the clunk of her glass hitting the carpet.

After drinking the 2nd Mrs. Blair to a withered husk, Josette turns to Barnabas, who is now standing just outside the door. She says, "Yuck! I thought blood would taste good to a vampire."

"She was drunk, my sweet Josette. Alcohol tastes terrible to us."

Josette steps on the cigarette, smoldering on the carpet, and then carries the corpse of Mrs. Blair away from the door, to get it out of the way. It will also be out of Blair's sight when he invites Barnabas to enter. She fears the sight would distract Blair, even while he is under the spell of the vampire. Then she goes searching for Mr. Blair. She notices that the house stinks of cigarettes.

She finds Blair in his "study." He uses the recliner and the television more than he uses the desk, and most of the books on the shelves are unread. Josette finds him snoring in the fully tilted recliner with ABC's _Monday Night Football_ playing on the TV.

The study stinks of cigarettes ten times worse than the rest of the house. Josette thanks God she no longer needs to breathe. She has been breathing on and off out of habit up to now. She consciously stops breathing to escape the stench.

One brief sniff close to Blair confirms that he reeks of cigarettes too, and she dreads touching him to wake him up. Then she sees the half-finished drink on the table next to the recliner, with half-melted ice cubes in it.

Josette smiles at the sight of the drink. Then she picks up the glass and pours its cold, wet contents into Blair's face.

* * *

Barnabas enjoyed most of his rides in the Collins' Chevy, once he got over his astonishment at the machine. But he does not enjoy the car ride from Blair's house to Angel Bay.

Angie did not allow the executives of Angle Bay to own cars that were newer models than her own. So after she bought the '70 Plymouth Barracuda, all the executives rushed out to buy 1970 models for themselves.

The 2nd Mrs. Blair's car is a '70 Corvette - out of the question for transporting 2 vampires, a man, and the corpse of Mrs. Blair herself.

Mr. Blair's car is a '70 Lincoln Continental Mark III 2-door hardtop. There is enough room in the trunk for Mrs. Blair. Josette sits in front with Mr. Blair. No one in Collinsport would be surprised to see Blair with a woman not his wife, but this pale skinned young thing is someone new.

In the back seat, Barnabas is out of sight of anyone they pass, but not very comfortable. The fact that the car stinks of cigarettes even worse than the house makes both vampires uncomfortable, even though they need to breathe only to get the wind to speak.

"Why was this motorcar built with so little room back here? And why did the builders exacerbate the problem by furnishing no rear doors?" he complains shortly after squeezing into it.

Victoria replies, "I don't know why the lack of room, but two doors are cooler than four doors."

"On a cold day, surely four open doors would cool the machine faster than two open doors."

"I'm using the word 'cooler' in its metaphorical sense, the way Carolyn does. As for why two doors are 'cooler' than four doors ... hmmm, maybe you better ask Carolyn."

* * *

One by one, the executives of the Angel Bay Seafood Co. enter the conference room, in compliance with the phone calls they received from Nicholas Blair. They find him sitting in Angie's chair at the end of the table. Each of them asks how dare he sit in Angie's chair. He replies, "Angie is dead. As First Vice President, I am now in charge."

All of them respond with variations of, "If you really believe Angie is dead, just because Elizabitch Collins Stoddard says so, then you are a f***ing fool."

They also ask why they are here, and why there is a folded blanket on the table in front of Blair, and why the blinds are closed when Angie always wants them open. Blair replies that he will explain when they are all present.

When the last of them is seated, they hear the doors at the other end of the room open. They all turn, expecting to see Angie coming through one of the doors. And they suddenly fear they will be the targets of her wrath for not dumping Blair out of Angie's chair. Instead they see 2 soaking wet vampires, one in each doorway.

"Good evening, gentlemen," says Barnabas. "And I use the word loosely."

* * *

After the vampires have given the executives of Angel Bay their orders, and asked them a few questions, Barnabas spreads the blanket on the floor behind the President's chair. He says, "Mr. Blair, stand in the middle of the blanket."

"Yes, Master," says Blair as he moves to obey.

When Blair is in position, Barnabas turns to the other executives and says, "Gentlemen, and once again I use the word loosely, you shall obey us in all things for two reasons. Firstly: we command it. Secondly: you do not want to share the fate of the late Mr. Blair." He turns to Josette and says, "He is all yours, my love."

Josette replies, "Thank you, darling." She steps in front of Blair and says, "I release you from our service."

Blair blinks his eyes, looks around, and cries, "What the hell?!"

"_This_ hell," Josette replies as she grabs his throat. She jerks him down to a convenient height and lets him see her fangs before she plunges them into his throat.

When she is finished, she turns to Barnabas and says, "Yuck! he didn't sober up much."

Thanks to the blanket, no blood gets on the floor.

* * *

The vampires [in the back seat] and the corpses of Mr. and Mrs. Blair [in the huge trunk] ride to Collinwood with Claude North in his 1970 Cadillac Sedan de Ville 4-door hardtop. [After the discomfort he suffered in the back seat of Blair's Mark III, Barnabas asked each executive, "What kind of motorcar are you driving tonight?" during the board meeting.]

North smokes, but his car does not smell nearly as bad as Blair's.

The Cadillac rounds the last turn before the gates of Collinwood just in time to see a pair of tail-lamps turn in through those gates, which Elizabeth and the 2 vampires did not close behind them earlier in the evening.

"That was not the Chevy," Victoria says. "Mr. North, turn off your headlights and drive as I tell you."

Victoria's vampire eyes can actually see better without the glare of the headlights reflecting off the objects ahead. Under her direction, North turns in through the open gates and drives slowly up the driveway. When they are past the 1st turn, Victoria tells him to stop and turn off the engine.

"Barnabas, I think we should see who that is and what they are doing here."

"I heartily agree, my love. Wait here, Mr. North."

* * *

Evan Hanley [age 17] and his cousin Eddie [16] are thieves. They go to Portsmouth once or twice a month to steal car parts. They specialize in hubcaps, spare tires, and radios. If they feel safe enough to take the time, they grab the battery, voltage regulator, and carburetor from under the hood.

So far, they have only found a fence who deals in hot parts. If they ever find one who deals in hot cars, they will steal whole cars. They are so lazy they plan to restrict such thievery to the fools who leave their keys in their cars.

Evan also has the hots for Carolyn. He has been nagging her for a date for over a year. At 1st she just said "No," but his persistence is stoking her sarcasm.

Evan and Eddie have never stolen anything in Collinsport. The only crime Angie allows in Collinsport, other than her own, is the nightly bar fight. The fight amuses her, even though she never witnesses it personally.

Evan and Eddie were about to leave on another thieving trip when they spotted Collinwood burning on its hill above the town and the red glow of the cannery fire.

Evan and Eddie arrived at the burning cannery too late to hear Angie's speech, of course. They were even too late to hear Elizabeth pronounce Angie dead. They get the news 2nd hand from their older cousin Elroy. Elroy was a member of the angry mob that followed Angie to Collinwood, and he is now just hanging around at the cannery fire. Elroy included the news that Barnabas Collins is a vampire and Angie was a witch.

Evan nudged Eddie and then lead him back to Evan's car: a beat up, black 1960 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 2-door sedan. He bought it cheap from an elderly relative who could no longer drive. His style of driving has put more wear and tear on the car in one year than the relative did in 11 years. He hopes to save enough money from the stolen car parts business to buy a used van. Evan's idea of moving up in the world is stealing more than 2 spare tires [that's all that will fit in the trunk on top of his own spare] per trip. Hell, with a van he can carry a big hydraulic jack and steal all the tires on a car.

And a van will have a lot more f***ing room in it.

But given how much money Evan spends on beer and marijuana, it will take him a long time to save enough for a van.

* * *

Barnabas and Josette Victoria move hand in hand up the long driveway of Collinwood. They move in utter silence thanks to the 6 inches of thin air between the ground and the soles of their wet shoes. Josette Victoria whispers to Barnabas, "I'm glad I did not try levitating for the first time on an empty stomach."

In reply, Barnabas smiles back at her and gently squeezes her hand.

They stop in the dark shadows just outside the opening in the wall around the manor and the circular driveway. For vampire ears, this is close enough to hear every word the trespassers at Collinwood are saying.

The Olds is parked next to Angie's Barracuda. The Barracuda's spare tire and radio are already in the trunk of the Olds. Evan is bitterly disappointed that he doesn't already have the van: Angie's mag wheels are worth plenty.

When Barnabas and Josette Victoria arrive at their listening post, Evan and Eddie are leaning on the hood of the Barracuda [something for which Angie would have killed them], taking a beer and pot break before they tackle the parts under the hood. They are drinking beer from bottles and passing a joint back and forth. And they are repeating the argument they had all the way to Collinwood. There are long pauses in that argument as they inhale the pot smoke and hold it in their lungs.

"This is crazy, stealing from Angie," says Eddie.

"Angie is dead."

"If you really believe Angie is dead, just because Elizabitch Collins Stoddard says so, then you are a f***ing fool. And you didn't even hear it from her, you heard it second hand, from Elroy."

When he hears "Elizabitch," Barnabas starts forward to teach Eddie a painfully fatal lesson. Victoria grabs his arm and whispers, "No, Barnabas. We have bigger fish to fry. If we kill these two, how do we get rid of their car? We must hypnotize them and send them on their way."

Barnabas nods in agreement. But he silently resolves to deal with Eddie another night. He has heard Elizabeth say, "We have bigger fish to fry," so he does not ask what Victoria meant by it.

Eddie continues, "And Elroy said Angie was a witch and that spooky looking Barn-ass dude is a vampire."

Barnabas does not react to an insult aimed merely at him, not at his family.

"That's bullshit," says Evan.

"Elroy saw with his own eyes that Angie was a witch and that Barn-ass is a vampire, and you say, 'Bullshit.' Elroy _says_ that Elizabitch _says_ that Angie is dead, and you believe it."

"Let me do the thinking."

There is a long silence as the thieving cousins hold the marijuana smoke. The vampires start forward, then stop when Eddie says, "How are we gonna get anything out of Collinwood?"

"I told you, gold and silver and jewels don't burn. All we gotta do is sift through the ashes."

"There's gonna be a ton of ashes from all this shit burning. And more than a ton of fallen stone on top of it."

"Let me do the thinking. It's gotten us this far." Evan laughs and throws his empty beer bottle on the cobblestones, shattering it. "And for me, there's gonna be a bonus in all this."

"What bonus?" Eddie drains the last of his bottle, and then follows Evan's example in disposing of it.

Once again, Victoria's hand on Barnabas' arm restrains him.

Evan provokes Barnabas yet again, saying, "Carolyn, man! With her house and cannery burned down she can't be such a stuck up bitch anymore."

And yet again, Victoria restrains Barnabas. She squeezes his arm. She leans toward him, with the intention of whispering in his ear, "No, Barnabas. We will punish him some other night for his insult of Carolyn."

But then Evan throws away the life Victoria has worked so hard to save.  
He completes the thought that began with calling Carolyn " ... a stuck up bitch ... "  
Evan kills himself with the words:  
"I ask her out,  
she says yes,  
I f*** her raw in the back seat."

Victoria moves before Barnabas does. But this is the 1st time that she has moved at the Speed of Blur. She overshoots her target by 20 feet and then walks back to him.

A startled Evan asks, "Who the hell are you?"

Josette replies, "For you, I am the Angel of Death." She grabs Evan by the throat with her left hand and pushes him down to his knees. "Stick out your tongue."

Evan struggles instead of obeying. Josette tightens her grip and says, "Stick out your tongue and I will let you breath."

Evan sticks out his tongue.

"Farther," says Josette.

Evan obeys.

In the meantime, Eddie has been slowly backing away. It did not occur to him for a moment to try to help Evan. The crazy pale-faced-bitch is clearly too strong for Eddie to be of any help. He wants to turn and run, but he is afraid to take his eyes off of her. He backs up until he bumps into someone. Then he turns around to tell the newcomer, "Run for your life, man!" The words freeze on his lips when he sees the newcomer.

"Leaving so soon?" says Barnabas. "I insist you stay and enjoy the evening's entertainment." He grabs Eddie by the top of the head and twists, forcing Eddie to turn back around. Then he pushes Eddie down to his knees, to give him a better view of the evening's entertainment.

Josette makes a fist of her right hand, or at least she tries too. She discovers that the long fingers of a vampire can not be curled into a proper fist. The fingers must be folded against the palm, the point of the nails reaching almost to the wrist. But given her vampiric strength, it is fist enough for the job at hand.

Josette drives her fist into the point of Evan's chin, so that his teeth amputate his tongue most foul.

Josette did not allow Evan to breath very deeply, but his scream still sprays blood on Josette's dress. The dress is still wet, so maybe the blood will not stick. Josette releases Evan, so his next scream will not spray more blood on her.

Eddie screams too. Barnabas gives Eddie's head a painful squeeze and says, "Silence, thief, or you will join him."

Josette steps away from Evan, who is curled up on the cobblestones making horrible sounds. He is trying to push both hands into his mouth hands to stop the pain.

Josette says, "It is a sin to waste food. But the blood that flowed through _that_ tongue shall never touch mine." She turns to Barnabas and asks, "Will he bleed to death from that wound, or must I finish him off somehow?"

"Death by exsanguination often follows the excision of the tongue, unless the wound is cauterized with a red hot iron." Now Barnabas speaks with mock sadness, "Alas, we have no red hot iron."

"I am sorry I have complicated our work tonight."

"Do not apologize, my dear Josette. You simply made the punishment fit the crime. And I have been giving some thought regarding the disposal of these two thieves. Many a despondent soul has leapt to their death from Widow's Hill. And many a drunken fool has simply staggered off of it, usually while 'showing off' to another drunken fool." He waves his hand over Evan and Eddie. "Allow me to introduce two such drunken fools. And the Sheriff will find proof of their drunkenness in the form of the broken beer bottles. That is why I shall not force this one to pick up the pieces with his lips."

Eddie cries, "No! Please don't kill me! It was all Evan's idea!"

"Silence!" Barnabas emphasizes the order with another squeeze of Eddie's head. And this time he uses his nails to press the point.

Josette looks in the car, and then turns to Barnabas with a big smile on her face. "More proof of their drunkenness. There is a bucket full of ice and beer bottles in the car." She waves at Evan's blood on the cobblestones. "What about the blood?"

"This one shall spend his last hours carrying water from the fountain to wash away the blood. And there is time enough before dawn for him to 'sober up' a bit and give you a taste of clean blood."

"You have worked very hard tonight, my love. You take him to renew your strength."

"We shall share him, as we shall share all things from this night forward."

"No! No!" cries Eddie. Barnabas gives his head a painful twist.

Josette suddenly smiles. "I have an idea that might make your plan even better. Let that one go."

Barnabas releases Eddie, who stands up crying, "Thank you, lady, thank ..."

"Silence!" cries Josette, raising her hand and waving her long fingers in Eddie's face. "Silence and deliver me your utmost obedience."

"Yes, Mistress," Eddie replies in a sleepy voice.

"What is your name?"

"Eddie."

"Have you a knife, Eddie?"

"Ayuh."

"Show it to me."

Eddie reaches into his pocket and pulls out a pocket knife.

Barnabas does not ask, "What matter of knife has no blade?" He saw Willie use such a knife to cut the rope that bound Dr. Hoffman to the concrete block that carried her down to Davy Jones Locker.

"I was hoping for something fancier," says Josette. "What is your friend's name?"

"He's not my friend. He's my cousin," replies Eddie.

"You are right, he is not your friend since he leads you into such terminal trouble. What is your cousin's name?"

"Evan."

"Has Evan a knife?"

"Ayuh. A real fancy one."

"Get it."

The sounds and movements of Evan expressing his pain are much reduced from what they are when his tongue was 1st removed. But Eddie still has difficulty extracting the knife from Evan's pocket. He shows it to Josette.

"Perfect!" cries Josette. "A switchblade!"

"And what, pray, is a switchblade?" asks Barnabas.

"Eddie, show my one true love how a switchblade works."

Eddie presses the button and the blade flicks out.

"Astonishing!" says Barnabas.

"And illegal," says Josette. "When the Sheriff finds it here, he will assume that he who held the switchblade, spilled the blood.

"You spoke of drunken fools, my love. Sometimes drunken fools quarrel and kill each other. And there is no honor among thieves. They sometimes kill each other over the division of the loot." Josette smiles as she waves her hand over Evan and Eddie. "Allow me to introduce two drunken thieves. One of them stabbed the other and threw the body off Widow's Hill. But in his drunkenness he stumbled off the edge himself."

"A most splendid plan, my dear Josette."

Josette turns to Eddie. "Dip the blade in the blood and then drop the knife here." She points to a spot a few feet from the worst of the blood.

Eddie obeys.

"Pick up your cousin's tongue - Yuck! - and put it in your pocket."

Eddie obeys.

"Now drag your cousin to Widow's Hill."

"Which way is that, Mistress?"

Josette rolls her eyes at such ignorance. She had assumed that everyone in Collinsport knew where Widow's Hill is. This boy is so ignorant he has not even learned the local lore. She points down the driveway and says, "Follow the driveway, then turn right on the first path leading into the woods."

"Yes, Mistress," says Eddie.

Eddie grabs Evan's wrists and starts the trip to Widow's Hill. Evan is not dead yet, he is not even unconscious. But he is too weak to put up a struggle. The trip to Widow's Hill is not a very long one if you are just walking. Eddie will soon discover it is much longer if you are dragging an almost dead cousin.

"Josette, shall we collect Mr. and Mrs. Blair?"

"Certainly, my love."

Barnabas and Josette Victoria walk, not levitate, hand in hand back to North's car. Barnabas says, "We must carry Mr. and Mrs. Blair by their necks, with their feet off the ground, all the way to Widow's Hill. And we must do so while levitating so that our own feet do not touch the ground. My love, are you strong enough to do that, all the way to Widow's Hill?"

"I think so. But why must we carry them like that?"

"Hypnotizing humans into _doing_ what we tell them to do is much easier than hypnotizing them into _believing_ what we tell them to believe. It will be better if the physical evidence leads the Sheriff to the conclusion you have described. I have been watching the police procedural plays _Dragnet_ and _Highway Patrol_ with Master David. There must be only one set of 'drag marks' leading to Widow's Hill, the one Eddie and Evan are making even as we speak.

"Also, the Sheriff might use hounds in an attempt to track the late occupants of the black motorcar. No hound will follow the track of a vampire. I hope Eddie's footprints and the dragging of Evan's bloody body, whether currently dead or still dying, will cover the scent we left earlier in the evening."

North drives to Collinwood under the direction of the 2 vampires in the back seat. The circular driveway is blocked by the Olds parked next to the Barracuda, so North turns around just inside the wall.

The vampires remove the corpses of Mr. and Mrs. Blair from the trunk of the Cadillac and then order Mr. North to go home, and to remember his hypnotic instructions.

Hand in hand, with their other hands holding up the corpses, Barnabas and Josette Victoria float 6 inches above the ground all the way to Widow's Hill. As they pass Eddie, dragging what is now the corpse of Evan, they offer words of encouragement.

As they move, still levitating, past the tip of Widow's Hill, Josette Victoria says, "I am _really_ glad I didn't try _this_ on an empty stomach."

They drop the corpses onto the black rocks below, and then float slowly down themselves. They carry the corpses into the cave. The tide is coming in, but so far the water is only ankle deep. They weigh the bodies down with rocks to make sure they will not float out of the cave at the next low tide, which will be after sunrise.

When they are finished, they levitate back to the top of Widow's Hill to wait for Eddie and Evan. Victoria says, "Barnabas, my love, it is one thing to make the Blairs disappear off the face of the earth. But those boys have families, families that perhaps love them in spite of how despicable they were. I want their bodies to be found eventually, so their families can bury them."

"Certainly, my sweet Victoria. But only after the tides and the crabs and the fishes have obliterated all trace of how they died. Speaking of which, we must remember to tell Eddie to remove Evan's tongue from his pocket. I am sure the crabs will find that morsel especially ... tasty."

Josette Victoria laughs, and kisses her one true love.

**NOTE  
**1\. During his 1st conversation with Elizabeth in the drawing room, Barnabas could not bring himself to touch the orange haired troll doll on top of a pile of books. The 2nd book from the top of the pile was _History of the Motorcar_. In my ficverse, this is one of the books Elizabeth gave him to bring him up to date. That is why Barnabas says "motorcar" instead of just "car," even though the text of the book makes much use of the word "car." [Yes, I bought the book after seeing it in the movie.]

2\. In 1960, 98 was the fanciest and most expensive model of Oldsmobile. Dynamic 88 was the plainest and cheapest. I assume that the convertible was the most expensive body style and the 2-door sedan was the cheapest.

_Michael Shayne_ was a private eye show that ran for one season, 1960-1961, on NBC, the same network that broadcast the 1991 prime time version of _Dark Shadows_. Shayne drove a 1960 Olds 98 convertible. It was white, or a color so light that it looked white in black and white.

The hero in_ Michael Shayne_ drove a white version of the most expensive '60 Olds, so I put Evan Hanley in a black version of the cheapest.

3\. _Track of the Vampire _was a cheap vampire movie produced by Roger Corman and released by American International Pictures in 1966, the year the original _Dark Shadows_ began.


	3. Chapter 3 Elizabeth & Carolyn

_**Dark Shadows 2**_**, Chapter 3: ****Elizabeth and Carolyn**

**I do not own the TV series ****_Bat Masterson_****, or any of its characters, music, or lyrics. **

**THE PRIMARY FLASHBACK CONTINUES:  
****Tuesday morning  
**Morning comes to the fishing village of Collinsport, Maine, the morning after the Night of the Collins Fires. The smoldering ruins of the great house of Collinwood are visible on the hill to the North of the town.

At dawn, many employees of the Collins Canning Company gather at the burnt ruins of the cannery. Some of them, both men and women, cry.

The employees of the Angel Bay Seafood Company report to work at their usual time, but they wonder if they still have jobs now that "Angie" is dead.

But before dawn, Elizabeth Collins Stoddard dreams of copies.

Carbon paper.  
Mimeograph machines.  
Xerox machines.  
Egyptian and Greek and Medieval scribes copying scrolls and books by hand, in the bad old days before Gutenberg.  
Carolyn propping up the microphone of her tape recorder in front of a stereo speaker,  
so she can take the music with her without buying the tape as well as the record ...

* * *

"Copy," Elizabeth says out loud.

"Mom?" says Carolyn.

Elizabeth opens her eyes. Carolyn's bed, clearly visible in the luminance of the nightlight, is rumpled but empty.

"Carolyn!" Elizabeth cries as she sits up in bed.

"I'm right here, Mom." Carolyn rises up from the floor next to Elizabeth's bed.

"Carolyn!" Elizabeth looks over the side-rail of her bed and sees a pile of blankets on the floor. "What were you doing on the floor?"

"When I was little, I climbed into bed with you and Daddy whenever I woke up before you. Because I was lonely and afraid. Last night, I was lonely and afraid all night. But your bed is so small, I couldn't climb in there without waking you, so I slept on the floor next to it ... what little I slept at all." Carolyn's eyes are filling with tears.

As the tears start down her cheeks, Carolyn says, "The scientific name for wolf is _Canis lupis_. The floor by your bed, isn't that where the faithful _dog_ is supposed to sleep?!"

"You are not my dog! You're my daughter, my baby! Why didn't you tell me, Carolyn, why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you I turn into a wolf at the full moon? Tell you ... " Carolyn stops when the nurse comes through the door, in response to Elizabeth's cry.

The nurse says, "Are you all right, Mrs. Stoddard?"

"NO! Not after finding my daughter on the floor! You were supposed to check on her every half hour!"

"She did check on me, Mom!" cries Carolyn. "She scolded me back into bed four times. The fifth time, she gave up and gave me a blanket to put under me."

"Oh, my God! My poor ... baby!" This time, Elizabeth hesitates before saying "baby" because Carolyn has hated it since she was 5 years old. But no other word fits the way Elizabeth feels right now, as tears fill her eyes too. "Come here, Carolyn," she says as she grabs the side-rail of her bed. "How do you get this damn thing down?!"

The nurse steps forward, but Carolyn beats her to it. She figured out the latch on the side-rail of her own bed hours ago. She lowers the rail and climbs into bed with her mother. They hold each other tight and cry.

"Nurse, I'm sorry I yelled at you," Elizabeth says between sobs.

"It's all right, Mrs. Stoddard," the nurse replies as she raises the side rail. "It's been a terrible night for you and your family. I'll get a clean blanket to put over Carolyn."

"Thank you, Nurse."

After the nurse leaves, Carolyn continues her story, gasping for breath between sobs. "Tell you I kill little animals and eat them raw? Tell you that I want to eat raw HUMAN flesh! I was afraid to tell you, I was so afraid. You wouldn't have believed me unless you saw me change right before your eyes. And then ... then I might have killed _you_! And I was afraid you would lock me up where I couldn't disgrace 'The Family That Can Do No Wrong!' "

" 'The Family That Can Do No Wrong!' That was the most stupid thing I ever said in my life! How could the sister of _Roger Collins_ say anything so damn stupid?!"

The nurse comes in with the clean blanket. She spreads it over Carolyn and picks up the blankets from the floor. Elizabeth and Carolyn say nothing but, "Thank you, Nurse," until she leaves again.

Once the nurse is gone, Carolyn continues her story. "That's why I wanted to go to New York. I figured it was so full of freaks that one more would never be noticed. And the sooner I got out of Collinwood, the less likely you would find out what I was.

"And you're always saying there are 'Things That Ladies Don't Talk About.' I figured being a werewolf was one of the 'Things That Ladies Don't Talk About.' "

"Carolyn, anything that hurts you is something we must talk about, you _must_ tell me. I can't promise that I won't get upset or angry if you've done something wrong. As your mother, it's my job to get upset or even angry. But you can tell me _anything_.

"Carolyn, the moon wasn't full last night. Why did you turn into a wolf when the moon wasn't full?"

"What you saw last night was a partial change. Normally ... Ha! Normally! What a word to use about this. When I turn into a wolf under the full moon, it's a full blown, four-legged wolf. A blonde wolf, not a gray one. And the hair on my head is still long and blonde, just like it was last night.

"As for why I changed last night ... I think it was the stress of seeing us under attack by a lynch mob. Even with the cops along, that's what it looked like to me. And a mob lead by _Angelique_." Carolyn shivers.

"Angelique said she sent the werewolf who bit you in your crib ... In your crib! God damn her! But you did not turn into a wolf at the full moon when you were a baby. I would have noticed! When you cried at night, I came running, no matter what the time of the night ... or the phase of the moon. And sometimes I woke up because you were _not_ crying. I ran to make sure ... to make sure you were still breathing. I would have noticed a wolf cub in your crib instead of my baby!

"And when you were big enough to move into a big girl bed, I still checked on you two or three times every night. In my head, you were still ... still my baby. I would have noticed if you were a wolf!"

"The first time I changed was the full moon of April 1969."

"April sixty-nine? That was ... "

"A month of curses!" Carolyn cries.  
"My first period at the new moon!  
Aunt Laura died at first quarter!  
And when it was full ... It hurt! Oh God, Mommy, how it hurt!"

**SECONDARY FLASHBACK WITHIN THE PRIMARY FLASHBACK:  
****April 1969, the 1st night of the full moon  
**Twelve year old Carolyn Stoddard lies naked on the floor of her room. She is bent double with pain. She wants to scream, but her vocal cords and mouth are no longer shaped right. All that comes out is a whimper, and even that does not sound right.

It all began with a super sensitivity of Carolyn's skin, that compelled her to get her clothes off. They now lie scattered across the floor. She was barely able to get them off before the pain immobilized her.

"What is happening to me?" she cries in her head.

Her joints are turning backwards on themselves. She can hear them as well as feel them, and the sound makes the pain even worse. And every follicle on her body burns as it grows longer, coarser hair than it ever held before.

Carolyn can feel her face growing outward from her skull, her canine teeth growing longer, the rest of them changing shape.

And all of it hurts, hurts worse than anything she has ever felt, anything she has ever imagined.

And then the pain suddenly stops. Carolyn slowly gets up on her hands and knees. But it does not feel like hands and knees, it feels like fingertips and toes.

"How can that be?" she thinks. "My butt would be way up in the air."

Carolyn looks down at her hands ... and sees paws at the ends of legs covered with short, light colored fur.

Paws?! Fur?!

She tries to stand upright, but quickly falls back to all fours. She walks on all fours to her dresser and tries again, this time putting her hands ... her forepaws on the top of the dresser to steady herself. She looks in the mirror on the wall above the dresser and sees ... the head of a wolf. A wolf whose head is covered in long light colored hair.

... light colored ... Why does the short fur on her body and the long hair on her head look light colored instead of blonde? Carolyn looks around her room. Her color vision is gone, everything is black and white and shades of gray.

And she is hungry. Human meat would taste really good right now, better than anything in the world.

Carolyn goes to the door. It's shut! She tries to turn the knob with her paws and then with her teeth, to no avail.

OK, no human meat tonight, have to settle for something wild. She turns to the window. It is open about half way. She pushes it open the rest of the way with her snout and jumps out. Landing knocks the breath out of her, but it would probably have broken the legs of a real wolf.

Carolyn runs through the night air. At last, something good about this: four bare feet on the grass feel even better than two. And the moon is so much brighter now that her vision is black and white. Must be careful about the moon. A light colored wolf will be highly visible in the moonlight. If anyone looks out a window and sees a wolf running around, her own mother will go up to the tower room with Grandpa's rifle to snipe at her. And if she misses, maybe set out traps tomorrow.

And the smells! The smells of meat! Meat that is still alive and running around the estate. Deer rabbit opossum raccoon. Catch it kill it EAT IT!

Easier thought than done. Opossums are slow, but they can climb trees. And they look like giant rats, so Carolyn would prefer something else.

Carolyn has known since she was a little girl that animals are afraid of her. She often cried about it. Now she knows why they are afraid of her. And she knows to approach from downwind, where she can smell the prey but it can not smell her.

She never hesitated to eat the deer her Grandpa shot. He didn't shoot many, the estate wasn't big enough to support enough deer to feed them all year. But it was a welcome change from pot roast. Mom does the hunting now.

"I want deer, raw deer meat," Carolyn tells herself. "But I have to be careful, Mom will notice if the deer herd is suddenly wiped out."

Carolyn does not get a deer that 1st night. She is lucky to get a rabbit. In wolf-form, she is faster than a rabbit, and she almost catches the 1st one she chases. But she is watching the rabbit, not where the rabbit is going. The rabbit jumps into a tiny opening in the thick brush at the edge of the woods - a gap too small for a wolf.

Carolyn yelps when she collides with the scratchy branches of the brush. Even wolf-strength is not enough to crash through them. And even in wolf-form, the collision hurts.

The 2nd rabbit she chases also heads for the brush. This time Carolyn leaps over the brush, drooling with anticipation at the thought of coming down on the rabbit as it comes out the other side of the brush.

The rabbit does not come out. It stops inside the brush, where it is safe.

"Shit!" Carolyn cries inside her head.

The 3rd rabbit is the charm.

Carolyn crouches on the grass in the dark shadow of a tree. She waits. And waits. The rabbits eventually come out of their hiding places to nibble on the grass. Carolyn continues to wait and wait until a rabbit comes closer to the shadow. Then she charges.

The rabbit makes it halfway to the brush before Carolyn catches it. She rips it to pieces and gobbles them down. She howls with triumph - and then forces herself to stop, fearing someone in the house will hear her and look out a window, and then run to tell Mom, "There's a wolf on the lawn!"

Carolyn runs and jumps over the brush into the woods. Rabbit blood is salty. She makes her way to the small stream that runs through the woods, a stream that eventually runs across the bare black rock and plunges into the sea. Carolyn drinks until her mouth is clean, then prowls the woods.

Growing up at Collinwood, Carolyn has explored every inch of the estate - in girl form during daylight hours. Now she explores it on all fours, by moonlight, and without color vision. She waits until it is late enough for everyone to be asleep before going back to the grounds close to the house. She circles the house, taking in every sight and smell.

Carolyn spends hours relearning her way around the grounds in her new form. She finds the scents of future prey, so the hunting will be easier in the future.

Weary from her hours of exploring, Carolyn makes her way to the old stable. Grandpa sold the family's last horses when Carolyn was just a baby. Carolyn was sad when she first learned this, she wanted to learn to ride. But then she found out that animals are afraid of her, and she was glad she did not have to see the horses rearing and screaming in fear of her.

The stable has been empty and neglected ever since Grandpa sold the last horses. The door is shut when Carolyn reaches it, but she charges at it and strikes it with her forepaws, knocking it off one of its hinges.

Carolyn explores the stable, which to her keen nose still smells of the long gone horses -especially their manure. Then she curls up on the dirt floor of the stable, yawns, and goes to sleep ...

As the full moon descends towards the western horizon, the she-wolf wakes up with a yelp of pain. She whimpers as her bones and follicles and other body parts change back to those of a 12 year old girl. It hurts as badly as the change to wolf form did.

Carolyn lies naked and shivering on the bare dirt floor of the old stable. She tries to stand, but only gets as far as her hands and knees when her stomach, which is now human again, suddenly revolts against its contents. She vomits ... and then stares in astonishment at what she has thrown up.

Fur. And bones. The indigestible parts of the rabbit she ate raw last night.

Carolyn's stomach rebels again, this time against the sight of its ex-contents. But it is already empty, so all she can do is dry retch ... which means more pain.

"Water. Please, Mommy, water," she whimpers, unconsciously repeating what she said in the Ladies Room of church after she vomited during Roger and Laura's wedding.

There is a water faucet in the stable. Carolyn crawls to it on her hands and knees, trembling from head to toe.

"How long since any one used this hose? How many bugs have crawled up it since then? And what will the half rotted hose itself taste like?" she wonders as she turns on the faucet. She wants to remove the hose and drink straight from the faucet, but she is shaking too hard to try it. And the shaking is not from being naked in the chilly air of an early morning in April in Maine. She has always been more resistant to cold than others, just as her strength and speed and senses have always been superior ... and now she knows why.

Cold water spews from a dozen or more leaks in the old hose, spraying onto her already trembling body.

"Good," she thinks. "I need washing anyway." The cold water bothers her more than the cold air, but not enough to move away. She is not sure she could move any further anyway.

Then she gets an idea. She is shaking too hard to unscrew the hose from the faucet, but she grabs the hose with both hands, a few inches below the faucet. She pulls and twists the hose, and it snaps off about two inches below the faucet.

Carolyn cups her shaking hands together to catch the water. She rinses her mouth and then drinks and drinks and drinks ...

**[WARNING!  
****Do NOT drink hose water!  
****Bacteria can grow in the stagnant water left in the hose when you turned it off the time before.  
****Do NOT drink hose water! ]**

She turns off the water and thinks, "I have to get back in the house. But how? All the doors and windows on the ground floor are locked. And I can't very well knock on the door like _this_. Wait a minute ... the stable! The stable! Even as a wolf, I knew enough to come here."

Carolyn slowly gets to her feet. She is still trembling. She slowly walks to the tack room, which has been empty since Carolyn's grandfather sold the family's last horses and all the gear that went with them. Carolyn leans on the wall for support as she goes. She presses the hidden catch in the wall of the tack room and the secret panel swings out, revealing cobwebs and a ladder going down.

Carolyn sweeps the cobwebs aside with a grimace of disgust. "This is only the beginning," she tells herself. She steps inside, closes the panel and starts down the ladder, her bare feet passing through more cobwebs as she descends.

Carolyn discovered the secret passage from the tower room to the stable when she was 6 years old. At that point in time, she was no longer spending whole days in the tower room watching for her Daddy, waiting and praying for him to come home. But definitely a part of every day.

The rungs of the ladder were so far apart, that she did not try descending when she 1st discovered it. She managed to control her impatience for 2 whole years. She was very proud of herself for that.

She made her 1st trip through the secret passage armed with a flashlight and a stick to sweep aside the cobwebs. Her clothes were still filthy when she returned. She buried them in the bottom of the hamper, where only Mr. Willie would see them when he loaded the washing machine, and he wouldn't care how dirty they were, or say anything about them.

The ladder went straight down to the level of Collinwood's cellar, perhaps lower. Then there was a tunnel that lead, after a long walk, to another ladder, this one going up. At the top of the ladder she found herself in a tiny room. There was a latch on one wall. When she moved it, the wall opened outward to reveal the tack room of the stable on the other side.

Now she makes the trip in the dark, with only her hands to sweep aside the cobwebs before they reach her face, and only her feet to detect if the floor has collapsed somewhere along the way.

There was a rat in the tunnel the 1st time she walked it. The rat fled from her squeaking in terror ... just as dogs have always run away from her whimpering. And now she knows why.

And Carolyn wonders, "Will black widows run away from me too? And if they don't, can their venom hurt a werewolf?"

There was a horrible smell at the bottom of the tower room ladder when 8 year old Carolyn made her first trip through the secret passage. It was faint even to her Supernose and she did not know what it was.

The smell is much fainter now, as 12 year old Carolyn approaches the bottom of the ladder. But after a night as a she-wolf, she can identify it: the urine of a male wolf. The son of a bitch who bit her and made her a werewolf pissed on the bottom rungs of the ladder to mark it as his territory.

Carolyn wants to vomit again, especially since she knows she must step barefoot onto those rungs. This time she manages to suppress the urge to barf.

The only good thing about the smell is that it tells her she is close to the ladder. Her searching hands touch a rock wall in front of her. She moves them, searching for the ladder. Yes, there it is. She starts up the ladder, wondering if it will still hold her weight.

Carolyn climbs and climbs. As she climbs she promises herself to find the son of a bitch who bit her and pissed on the ladder, find him and kill him. Can one werewolf kill another? Maybe not in a tooth-to-tooth fight in wolf form. Whenever she is in human-form, she will carry a gun loaded with silver bullets. She will just have to find someone to load it for her.

After a while, she pauses after every 3rd rung to feel above her. She bumps her head on the ceiling of the little room at the top anyway.

"Shit!"

She feels around for the latch of the secret panel ... There, got it! She exits into the tower room.

"Now to get to my room without being seen like this, naked and dirty."

Carolyn moves in slow silence down the stairs to the hallway. Two steps from the bottom, she stops to listen.

Silence.

She moves to the bottom step and sticks her head out to look both ways.

No one in sight.

Carolyn runs to her room. With the door shut behind her, she collapses to the floor and bursts into tears. Eventually she crawls on her hands and knees to her bathroom. It takes all her strength and will to climb over the side of the tub ...

* * *

"_That's_ why you insisted on moving into the tower room," Elizabeth says. "So you could get in and out of the house undetected."

"Yes. I didn't want anyone to know ... especially not you."

Elizabeth holds Carolyn tight while they both cry.

"Mom, I didn't turn into a wolf under the full moon until puberty. But all my life I have been stronger and faster than other kids. And my senses have been keener. That's why I have 'Superears.' And a Supernose too."

"A Supernose?"

"The way you and Daddy and everyone else acted about my Superears, I kept my Supernose a Secret." Carolyn shivers with horror. "Mom ... I can smell lust on people. Before I knew the word 'lust,' I called it the Man Smell and the Woman Smell. I threw up at Laura and Roger's wedding because the church reeked of the Man Smell." Carolyn is crying again. "And the worst of it was coming from Daddy! It wouldn't have been so bad except he never looked at you, only at Aunt Laura."

Elizabeth says nothing, she just holds Carolyn tight. Until understanding dawns on her face. "Wait a minute ... McGuire!"

"He had the Man Smell on him! I was five years old and he looked at me and he had the Man Smell on him!" Carolyn cries harder. "He was a rapist and murderer, wasn't he? That's why the FBI was here the next day."

"Yes, Carolyn," Elizabeth says as she holds Carolyn even tighter. "Your Supernose ... is that what you told Mr. Erskine in private? You thought you couldn't tell me because of how I acted when I found out about your Superears, but you told him didn't you?"

"Yes. And that's why he wanted us to look at McGuire's car separately."

A chill goes down Elizabeth's spine. "What ... what do you mean?"

"He wanted me to smell McGuire's car as well as look at it. To see ... No, not to see, to _smell_ if Daddy had ever been in it. I was overjoyed to tell him no, Daddy was never in McGuire's car. And that was the truth." Carolyn looks her mother in the eye. "I did not tell him that I smelled _you_ as well as McGuire on the driver's seat."

Elizabeth feels her blood fleeing from her skin again, leaving it as cold and pale as it was when Josette Victoria said, "I'm thirsty, Elizabeth. I am _very_ thirsty." A part of her mind tells her, "I must learn not to react this way to sudden fear."

"Carolyn ... "

"No, Mom, no!" Carolyn cries, as she presses her fingertips against her mother's lips. "Don't say it, please don't ever say it! If you killed McGuire, then I thank you for it. But please don't ever say it. I don't want to have to lie to Mr. Erskine if he ever comes back to Collinwood."

Elizabeth exercises her right to remain silent as she holds Carolyn tight. Both of them cry for a while, until Carolyn feels strong enough to speak again.

"High school stinks of lust even worse than the church did the day Laura and Roger were married. The only place I wear perfume is on the rims of my nostrils, to cover up the stink enough to get through the school day." She shudders again. "That's one of the reasons my grades are down ... And there is another reason too."

"What's that, honey?"

"Mom, you said I could tell you anything. I hope you meant it."

"I did," Elizabeth replies, bracing herself for whatever new horror Carolyn is about to reveal.

"I ... I take drugs, Mom. Downers and bennies. Downers so I can sit still in school the days before the full moon. And bennies so I don't fall asleep in school the days after the nights of the full moon. After running around as a wolf all night, all I want to do the next day is sleep. You were mad enough about my grades, I didn't want the principal calling you to say I was falling asleep in class."

"Oh God, Carolyn! Being a teenager is hard enough. These last three years must have been hell for you."

"Mom, now that you know all this, I want to ask you for something."

"Anything. If it is within my power, it's yours."

"May Vicki teach me as well as David? I don't want to set foot in that lust stinking high school ever again. I want a teacher who can schedule classes only on the days that I can concentrate."

"Oh God."

"Mom!?" Carolyn is alarmed by the look on her mother's face and the tone of her voice. "You told me Vicki was all right!"

"From her point of view, she is better than she has ever been in her life."

"I sense a 'but ... ' "

"Carolyn, you have told me some things. And now there are some things I must tell you."

"Barnabas is a vampire," Carolyn says calmly. "He's the Barnabas in the painting, our great, great, something uncle. Not our cousin from England. I knew the moment I first smelled him that he was something weird. I didn't know exactly what until I saw the fang marks in Angelique's neck. He killed the hard hats and the hippies, didn't he?"

"Yes. But there's a lot more." Elizabeth takes a deep breath. "Carolyn, do you remember the portrait of Josette DuPres that hung next to the fire place in the grand foyer?"

"Barnabas's fiancée? Of course."

"Vicki was the reincarnation of Josette DuPres."

"_Was_?! Oh, my God! Did Barnabas kill her too?"

"She jumped off Widow's Hill to force Barnabas to ... to change her ... to make her ... a vampire. It was the only way he could save her life. She loves him so much she is willing to suffer as he does if that is the price of being with him ... forever.

"Her name is now Josette Victoria DuPres Winters. But we may still call her 'Vicki.' "

Carolyn is crying again. "There's a part of me that envies her."

"What?!"

"I'll never love anyone like that. I'll never even love a man the way a normal woman loves a man. I'm frigid, Mom. Between Daddy's desertion and McGuire's ... existence! ... and the stink of lust in that high school, I'm frigid. There might as well be an icebox between my legs.

"Oh, I do 'touch myself,' as David put it. But only on the nights before the first night of the full moon. The days and nights before the full moon, I get more and more charged up, more and more full of energy. Including ... sexual energy.

"But I don't fantasize about any of the boys I know. They're all jerks."

"Who then?" Elizabeth asks. She smiles and adds, "Besides Alice Cooper, of course."

Part of Elizabeth's mind is thinking, "Who does my fifteen year old daughter think about while masturbating? Talk about 'Things That Ladies Don't Talk About!' "

The rest of Elizabeth's mind has decided that this is not the time to argue with Carolyn about her disdain for sex. As Carolyn's mother, there is a part of her who is glad that _fifteen-year-old_ Carolyn feels this way. The rest of Elizabeth hopes and prays Carolyn will get over it some day. Her 25th birthday might be just about right. Find a good man, fantasize about him - and _only fantasize_ about him - until their wedding night.

Carolyn smiles through her tears, and even laughs briefly. "Robert Redford and Paul Newman, of course."

"Of course."

"And Mr. Spock, naturally."

"_Naturally_. I lust for him myself."

"Yes, I noticed. And Robert Culp on _I Spy_. The two cute cops on _Adam 12_. And ... Mom, you're going to think this one is kind of gross, he is _so _much older than I am."

"I've fancied an older man or two myself over the years, so I won't think it's gross. Unless of course you mean Boris Karloff when he was eighty."

Carolyn laughs again, and then says, "Gene Barry."

"Hmmm, I rather fancy him myself. But which Gene Barry? Bat Masterson, Amos Burke, or Glenn Howard?"

"All of the above."

"A spy, two cops, and three rich guys. And one of the rich guys was also a cop. Strange choices for a girl who wants to be a hippie."

"The heart wants what it wants."

Elizabeth can not deny that, not given the fact that she married a jerk like Paul and Laura married a jerk like Roger. But if marrying Paul was the price of having Carolyn and Laura marring Roger was the price of having David, then it was worth it.

Elizabeth holds Carolyn close and sings, a song she and Carolyn learned when Carolyn was little. But it has been years since they sang it together. She sings softly, so only Carolyn can hear. She does not want to disturb the other patients.

"Back when the west was very young ... "

Carolyn smiles at her mother, and joins her for the rest of the song.

"There lived a man named Masterson.  
He wore a cane and derby haaaat.  
They called him Baaaat. Bat Masterson.

"A man of steel the stories say.  
_But women's eyes all glanced his way.  
_A gambler's game he always won.  
His name was Baaaat. Bat Masterson.

"The trail that he blazed is still there.  
No one has come since to replace his name.  
And those with too ready a trigger,  
Forgot to figger on his lightning cane.

"Now in the legend of the west  
One name stands out of all the rest.  
The man who had the fastest gun.  
His name was Baaat. Bat Masterson."

For days after her Daddy left them, Carolyn spent every free moment in the tower room watching for him. She asked Mommy - at every meal and every night when Mommy put her to bed - "Mommy, when is Daddy coming home?" Monday through Friday when Mommy picked her up from kindergarten, Carolyn would ask eagerly, "Did Daddy come home today?"

Some wounds even time can not heal, but it dulls the pain enough to let life go on. Carolyn gradually spent less and less time in the tower room. She resumed watching cartoons and looking at the horses [she took little interest in the people or the guns or the dusty towns] in TV westerns, including _Bat Masterson_. The only TV channel Collinsport receives was rerunning _Bat Masterson_ 5 nights a week at the time. But Carolyn no longer laughed at the cartoons or smiled at the horses.

One night Carolyn began to sing along with the closing credits of _Bat Masterson_. When she sang along with them the next night, Mommy sang along too. Carolyn looked at Mommy and smiled for the 1st time since her Daddy left them. As they sang it together the 3rd night, Mommy added the emphasis to the line  
"_But women's eyes all glanced his way._"

As little as she was, Carolyn got the joke and laughed. It was the 1st time she laughed after her Daddy left them. After that night, both Carolyn and her mother had always added the emphasis, and smiled at each other as they did so. They add it and smile at each other now.

After the song, Elizabeth and Carolyn hold each other tight, while Elizabeth thinks, "Dear God, thank you that we all got out safely. Thank you that I have my baby back. _Thank you that I have my baby back._"

* * *

"OK. Vicki is out unless you'll let me go to night school. When we're in the money again, may I have someone else for a governess?"

"We are still in the money now. I'm sure the bank has a procedure for dealing with cases like ours. But Carolyn, won't you miss your friends at school?"

"I don't have any friends. I always get picked first when we're choosing up sides for a game, but that's only because I'm faster and stronger than anyone else ... Some times too strong." Carolyn is crying again, crying in memory of 6 months ago.

**SECONDARY FLASHBACK  
**April 1972  
The 9th grade girls Phys. Ed. class is on the softball field. Carolyn is at bat.

Carolyn always bats 3rd. That way, her team gets at least one run even if the first 2 batters strike out. And if one or both of the first two batters get on base, Carolyn's home run will send them home too.

Sue, the 1st batter, made it to 1st base. Eve struck out. So Carolyn's home run will make it 2 to zero.

Jenny, the pitcher, throws. Carolyn swings and hears the always satisfying POP! of wood hitting ball. But this time it is accompanied by a sickening CRACK!

"Shit!" Carolyn says to herself. "I cracked the bat. That's the second one this spring."

Even while thinking his, Carolyn's eye is on the ball. It is a line drive, a little to the right of the mound. Carolyn drops the bat and runs for 1st.

No one ever tries to catch one of Carolyn's hits. The ball is always moving so fast it will sting like hell to catch it, even through a glove.

Sue is running too. But Carolyn is faster. As she passes 2nd base, she has already cut the distance between them in half. After 3rd base, Carolyn must slow down to avoid rear-ending Sue.

Slowing down is hard for Carolyn. The last 3 days before the full moon, Carolyn is charged with more and more energy. Phys. Ed. is her favorite class because it allows her to burn off some of that energy. She wishes it was a daily class instead of only 3 days a week. She would not need so many downers if it was daily.

Carolyn has tunnel vision when she is running around the bases. She can see nothing but the girl in front of her and the next base to touch. But after she crosses home-plate, she sees that the rest of the team is not there to cheer the 2 runs.

Carolyn looks around and sees a mob of girls around the pitcher's mound. A babble of voices is coming from them. But even though the babble, Carolyn's Superears can hear crying.

"NO!" Carolyn tells herself. "I did not hit Jenny! I did not hit Jenny!"

She runs to the mound. She pushes girls aside with both hands to get through the mob. Carolyn sees Jenny sitting on the ground, crying. There is a puddle of vomit in front of Jenny, but no blood is visible. Mrs. Desjardin [Marley Shelton], the girls Phys. Ed. teacher, is kneeling beside Jenny, holding her with both arms and telling her, "It's all right, Jenny, it's all right."

"NO!" Carolyn cries it aloud this time. "NO! Jenny, I did not hit you!"

Mrs. Desjardin looks up and says, "No, Carolyn, the ball did not hit her. But it only missed by maybe six inches. It scared Jenny so badly she threw up and then started crying."

"Jenny! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! But I didn't hit you!"

Jenny looks up and screams, "Get away from me, you freak!"

Carolyn turns and walks away. She goes back into the school building. When she finds the door of the girls locker room locked, she goes to the nearest Girls Restroom. She collapses to the floor, and then the tears and the sobs she has been holding back burst out.

A few minutes later, Sue comes in. When Mrs. Desjardin noticed Carolyn was missing, she sent Sue to look for her.

"Carolyn," Sue says timidly. "Are you all right?" Sue is just as afraid of Carolyn as everyone else is. When Mrs. Desjardin told her to look for Carolyn, Sue tried to argue with her about it.

"Oh yeah, I'm just f***ing peachy! Can't you tell?!" Carolyn screams in reply.

Sue retreats, and runs back outside to tell Mrs. Desjardin she found Carolyn.

Carolyn stops crying by the time the class comes back inside near the end of the period. Mrs. Desjardin goes into the Girls Room and tells her, "Come on, Carolyn. You'll feel better after a shower. And then come see me before you go."

Carolyn does feel better after the shower. She feels much worse after her conversation with Mrs. Desjardin.

Carolyn has one more class after Phys. Ed. She cuts it and walks home. It's not a really long walk, but it is difficult because Collins Road [the road along the coast north of town] has no proper shoulders. Just a few inches of weeds growing out of gravel, then a ditch. The way Carolyn feels right now, she does not step into the weeds to avoid the few cars that come her way.

"Let them go around me," she thinks. "Or let them hit me and kill me, I would be better off."

When she is out of sight behind the gates of Collinwood, she lets go, just as she did in the Girls Restroom. She collapses into the dirt and gravel of the driveway and sobs until she is too emotionally exhausted to continue.

Emotionally exhausted. Even in human form, a werewolf is too strong to be physically exhausted just by crying. Then she just sits in the dirt and gravel until she hears the school bus go by, telling her it is late enough to show up at the house without giving away the fact that she cut class ...

Elizabeth is at her desk in the windowed alcove of the drawing room when she hears an odd PING! sound behind her. She turns and looks through the window. She sees Carolyn running across the lawn, barefoot in a t-shirt and a pair of shorts. She carries a piece of pipe. At end of the lawn she stops and picks up a baseball. She throws it straight up in the air and then swings the pipe.

PING! and the ball rockets back across the lawn. Carolyn runs after it.

"What the hell?" Elizabeth asks herself as she goes out the glass door to the terrace. "Carolyn!" she calls from the terrace.

Carolyn keeps running.

Elizabeth goes down the stone stairs from the terrace to the lawn. There's another PING! from the far end of the lawn, the ball shoots past Elizabeth, and Carolyn comes running after it.

"Carolyn!"

Carolyn keeps running. Elizabeth steps into her path and grabs her. Carolyn's 1st instinct is to pull loose and resume running, she is more than strong enough to pull loose from her mother. But she realizes that would reveal how strong she is, so she stops.

Elizabeth sees the tears rolling down Carolyn's cheeks. "Carolyn, you're crying. What's wrong?"

"Mrs. Desjardin says I can't play softball anymore."

"Why not?"

"I hit a home run, like I always do. And I cracked the bat doing it, even though I had the trademark up. That's the second bat this spring."

"Carolyn, we're not so broke we can't buy the school a new bat."

"The bat's not the problem! The ball is! Jenny was pitching. The ball almost hit her. Mrs. Desjardin is afraid it would have killed her. She's says she can't take the chance of my hitting someone the next time so I can't play softball anymore."

"Oh no. I'm sorry, Carolyn."

"Thanks." For once, Carolyn does not intend the amount of sarcasm she puts into the word. It is almost reflex now. "Mom, please let me go. There's a time of the month when I have to move as much as I can ... and I don't mean my ... period!"

Carolyn almost said, " ... my f***ing period!" She just barely stopped herself, knowing her mother would have slapped her silly for it.

Carolyn continues, "Mom, I'm going crazy standing here. Please let me hit the ball and run."

"All right, Carolyn." Elizabeth lets go of Carolyn and steps aside.

"Thank you, Mom." This time Carolyn manages to say it with the gratitude she truly feels. She runs a few yards and then stops and looks back. "Mom, you should move aside. I don't want the ball to hit you."

Elizabeth nods and turns to walk back to the house. When she hears the PING! again, she turns to watch Carolyn racing across the lawn. She watches for only a moment, and then turns back toward the house again, knowing that Carolyn does not want her watching ...

* * *

Elizabeth holds Carolyn as she cries. When it eases again, Carolyn says, "Mom, I'm sorry I embarrassed you at the Happening."

"Embarrassed me?"

" 'Mommy, where's Daddy? He's been gone for so long. Is he ever coming home?' "

"Oh, that."

"Sometimes I miss him so much it hurts, even after all this time. That's why I tormented you with things like 'Mommy, where's Daddy?' But whenever I remember how frightened I was of McGuire, I hate Daddy's guts for bringing him to Collinwood."

"Carolyn ... "

"No, Mom, NO!" Carolyn presses her fingertips against her mother's lips again. "If you killed Daddy, I don't want to know. I would rather live with false hope than with that knowledge."

"I did not kill him, Carolyn. But for a few minutes, I thought I did."

"WHAT?!"

**SECONDARY FLASHBACK  
**October 1962  
After putting Carolyn to bed, Elizabeth finds Paul and McGuire having a drink in the drawing room. Both of them are drunker than when they arrived.

Elizabeth does not put it off. "Mr. McGuire! When I said you must leave after dinner, that did not include an after dinner drink. Good-bye, Mr. McGuire."

"Liz, Jason is my friend. I invited him to spend the night, he's spending the night. Tell Willie to get a room ready."

"And Carolyn is your daughter - your DAUGHTER! You put her first, or you are not fit for her to call you 'Daddy' ."

It goes downhill from there. And even though the immediate cause of this argument is a new one for Elizabeth and Paul, it quickly goes into a well worn rut.

As usual, there comes a point when Elizabeth wants to slap Paul. Whenever she feels like this, she looks for something else for her hand to do. This time, she picks up the poker to stir up the fire, even though it doesn't need stirring.

And then Paul makes one crack too many about Elizabeth's parents.

Elizabeth spins around and swings the poker backhanded at the right side of Paul's head. She tries to "pull her punch" at the last second, but it is too late. The poker hits Paul in the right temple. He drops his drink and falls to the floor.

For the 1st time in her life, Elizabeth panics. She runs from the room. As she runs, she hears McGuire laughing.

When Elizabeth reaches the room she shares with Paul, she paces the floor and cries and asks herself, "What do I do now?"

She has to call the police of course. And they will arrest her, and she will disgrace her family ... and McGuire will come back to Collinsport to testify at her trial. Even if she pleads guilty to avoid a trial, he can still come back whenever he chooses and wait for a chance to rape Carolyn.

"Maine has no death penalty," she tells herself. "The most I can get is life imprisonment. I only have one lifetime to give for my baby, so I will give it for killing McGuire as well as Paul.

"Carolyn will hate me for killing her Daddy. Maybe she will forgive me if I kill McGuire too."

Elizabeth opens her wardrobe and looks at her shotgun. "No," she tells herself. "There's a better way." She grabs her keys from her purse and steps into the hall.

At age 5, Carolyn is still in a room on the main hall. She will not insist on moving into the tower room until puberty hits, with unexpected side effects.

Elizabeth slowly opens the door of Carolyn's room. Carolyn is asleep, her breathing slow and regular. Elizabeth closes the door and goes to her parents' room.

Carolyn is not asleep. She learned long ago how to make her breathing slow and regular, even when she is wide awake and tears are trickling out of her eyes.

In her parents' room, Elizabeth unlocks her father's desk. Mr. Collins entrusted his daughter with copies of all of his keys when she was only 12. He has yet to entrust his son with any, except the front door. She takes Dad's revolver from the top right drawer. It is a .32 Colt New Police, a model so old that it has the hard rubber grips with the name "COLT" in an oval at the top of them.

The Colt will make less noise and less of a mess than Elizabeth's shotgun. Elizabeth wants less noise because of Carolyn's Superears. She wants less of a mess because Willie and Mrs. Johnson will have to clean it up when the police are finished.

Elizabeth swings out the cylinder to check if the pistol is loaded - it is, as always. She leaves her keys on the desk, she will not need them ever again, and heads back to the drawing room ...

"I found that your father and his car were gone," Elizabeth tells Carolyn. "I ... got McGuire out of our house and then ... Willie and I went looking for your father. Although that's not what I told you at the time. We didn't find him. The rest you know." Elizabeth does not like lying to Carolyn about why she left the house that night. She comforts herself with the thought that the lie is in compliance with Carolyn's request that Elizabeth not tell her that she killed McGuire.

* * *

"Mom, why did you say 'Copy' when you woke up?"

"Oh God."

"What is it, Mom? What now?"

"I dreamed about copies. Carbon paper. Mimeograph machines. Xerox machines.  
Scribes copying scrolls and books by hand, in the bad old days before Gutenberg.  
And you propping up the microphone of your tape recorder in front of a stereo speaker, so you could take the music with you without buying the tape as well as the record. I guess I said 'Copy' out loud when I realized what the dream meant and woke up."

"So what did it mean?"

"When I went back to Collinwood, I got Angelique's keys from her car so I could give them to Sheriff Malloy. There was a cassette recorder on the passenger seat, and I took it too."

"Good. Mine burned up in the fire. Serves Angelique right if I get hers. Or do you need it?"

"It burned up too. I told Barnabas to throw it in the fire."

"For Pete's sake, why?"

"Have you asked yourself how Angelique got Sheriff Malloy and the mob to follow her to Collinwood?"

"She was Angelique. She bewitched them."

"Not exactly." Elizabeth has been throwing in all these details to postpone saying the really painful part. And to get a grip on herself: "Control yourself, Elizabeth. You have to tell Carolyn that Barnabas killed Julia, but she mustn't know about you and Julia."

Out loud, Elizabeth says, "I think she played them the tape in that machine. A tape of Barnabas confessing to killing the construction workers and the hippies and... and ... and Dr. Hoffman." The last 3 words come out in a rush.

"Oh, my God! Oh, Mom! I'm so sorry. I know how much you loved her."

"Yes, she was ... a very dear friend."

"No, Mom. You _loved_ her. Romantically and _sexually _loved her."

"What! Don't be ridiculous, Carolyn."

"Mom, I can smell lust on people, remember? I smelled it on Roger during Doctor Hoffman's first dinner with us. So when I smelled it on Doctor Hoffman too, I assumed she was requiting Roger's lust. Is 'requite' is the right word when you're talking about lust instead of love? Anyway, I despised her for it. I thought, 'It's true, headshrinkers are even crazier than their patients.'

"But about a week later, I smelled it on you too. That confused the hell out of me. Until the next morning when I saw you and Doctor Hoffman look at each other and smile ... the way you and Daddy sometimes did." Carolyn smiles at her mother. "Maybe you remember that morning. I snorted with suppressed laughter, and then pretended to be coughing like something went down the wrong way."

Elizabeth does remember that morning. And she feels her skin turning cold and pale again. "I really must get that under control," she thinks.

Out loud, Elizabeth says, "Carolyn ... "

"Relax, Mom. That was three years ago. Three years, and I haven't told anyone. And I never will.

"I never admitted it to myself until now, but I was happy for you. You were alone and _lonely_ for so long after Daddy left. I was happy for you." Carolyn smiles at her mother. "And frankly, I was hoping that if you were ... getting laid, it would make it easier for _us_ to get along. Fat chance, huh? I'm so sorry you've lost her, Mom. Why the hell did Barnabas kill her?"

Elizabeth tells Carolyn about the transfusions and Julia's lies about their purpose, and how Barnabas caught her at it.

Carolyn asks, "But what's all that got to do with 'Copy'?"

"Barnabas's confession was the only thing on that tape. It's not likely that the confession was the only thing anyone said in whatever argument Barnabas and Angelique had before she led the mob to Collinwood."

"So the tape you found was a copy of that one line. Where's the original?"

"Good question. Between money and hypnosis, I think Barnabas and I can help Sheriff Malloy and the townspeople to decide they didn't really see what they saw in front of Collinwood. Maybe they can also help us find and destroy the original tape."

"Why try to convince them they didn't really see what they saw? Why not dare them to believe it? Why not dare them to tell the outside world the truth?"

"Hmmm, that's a thought."

**NOTES**

**WARNING!  
****Do NOT drink hose water!  
****Bacteria can grow in the stagnant water left in the hose when you turned it off the time before.  
****Do NOT drink hose water! **

1\. Michelle Pfeiffer sang in the movie _The Fabulous Baker Boys_ [1989], and was widely praised for it.

2\. To hear the theme song of the TV series _Bat Masterson_, search "Bat Masterson theme song" at youtube. The series began in 1958, the year Tim Burton and Michelle Pfeiffer were born. The show was made by Ziv Television, the same company that made _Highway Patrol_.

Gene Barry played Captain Amos Burke, LAPD [a very different LAPD than the one depicted in _Adam 12_], in _Burke's Law_. _Burke's Law_ had 2 successful seasons, 1963-1965.

For the '65-'66 season, it became _Amos Burke-Secret Agent_. That was the same season that _I Spy_, _The Wild Wild West_, and _Get Smart_ debuted. They were successful. _Amos Burke-Secret Agent _was cancelled halfway through the season. The original _Dark Shadows_ began later that season. Like the original _Dark Shadows_, _Burke's Law_/_Amos Burke-Secret Agent_ was broadcast by ABC.

Mr. Barry played Glenn Howard in the series _The Name of the Game_. It was cancelled in 1971, the same year the original _Dark Shadows_ was cancelled.

Mr. Barry's 1st role after the cancellation of _The Name of the Game_ was in the TV-movie _The Devil and Miss Sarah_. The movie was a horror-western with Barry as a diabolical outlaw. It was broadcast by ABC on Dec. 4, 1971, seven months after the last episode of the original _Dark Shadows_ \- and just one month before ABC broadcast the Dan Curtis Production _The Night Stalker_, the TV-movie about a vampire in Las Vegas.

_Bat Masterson_, _Star Trek_, _I Spy_, _Adam 12_, and _The Name of the Game_ were all broadcast by NBC, the network that broadcast the 1991 remake of _Dark Shadows_.

Boris Karloff's last role was in _The Name of the Game_ episode "The White Birch," with Gene Barry.

3\. Mrs. Desjardin is named after the girls Phys. Ed. teacher in _Carrie._  
Sue is named after Sue Snell, the good girl in _Carrie_.  
Chloe Grace Moretz played the title character in the 2013 remake of _Carrie_.  
Marley Shelton played Victoria in the unfinished, un-broadcast 2004 _Dark Shadows_ pilot.  
Eve and Jenny are named after characters [who were _not_ high school girls] in the original _Dark Shadows_.  
Both of them were played by Marie Wallace.

4\. The Secondary Flashback to October 1962 is copied from my story "Elizabeth's Secret."


	4. Chapter 4 Tuesday, Part 1

**_Dark Shadows 2_****, Chapter 4: Tuesday, Part One**

**THE PRIMARY FLASHBACK CONTINUES:  
****Tuesday morning  
**A pink 1968 Ford Country Squire stops in the parking lot of Collinsport Memorial Hospital. [The Country Squire is the big Ford station wagon with the phony wood-grain on the sides. The painted parts of this one are pink.] Alexis Bradford [Lara Parker] gets out of the driver's seat and opens the left rear door. She pulls out an arm-full of clothing, shuts the door, and walks to the door of the hospital.

Alexis is a retired nurse, who worked for Dr. Eric Lang for many years. Her husband Quentin [David Selby] is a retired lawyer. He too has a '68 Ford, an LTD 4-door hardtop with a red body and a white vinyl roof. They took the LTD to the Happening, accompanied by Alexis' sister Rachel [Kathryn Leigh Scott] and Rachel's husband Jonathan [Jonathan Frid].

Two minutes later, a red and white 1959 Ford Country Sedan [what kind of name is that for a station wagon?] stops in the space next to the Country Squire. Roxanne Drew [Barbara Blackburn], Elizabeth's secretary at the Collins Canning Co., gets out. Her hair is red, but longer and darker than Dr. Julia Hoffman's.

Roxanne wears blue jeans, a red turtle-neck sweater, and black thong sandals. Her fingernails and toenails are painted the same pink as those of Dr. Hoffman. She wears gold-rimmed half-moon-glasses that she only needs for reading. To see anything else, she simply looks over them.

Roxanne is smiling as she gets out of her car. She has been smiling ever since she saw the Country Squire. She has known Alexis all her life. She too opens the left rear door of her station wagon and pulls out clothing, but much less of it than Alexis did. It all fits on one hanger. Roxanne shuts the door walks to the door of the hospital.

After their long and emotional talk about Carolyn's lycanthropy, Elizabeth and Carolyn took showers to get the smoke out of their hair and skin. Now they are finishing breakfast in their hospital beds when there is a knock on the door and a voice says, "Elizabeth? It's Alexis. May I come in?"

"Nurse Alex!" Carolyn cries. She leaps out of bed, runs to the door and jerks it open. She hugs Alexis and says, "Nurse Alex, it's so good to see you." She is close to tears again.

"Hey," Alexis says. "What happened to the bravest patient I ever had?" When Carolyn was a little girl, she never cried when getting a shot.

"It's easy to be brave when you're just getting a shot," Carolyn replies.

"You're right, that was stupid of me. Your family went through hell last night."

"Good morning, Alexis," Elizabeth says. "You shouldn't have brought us your clothes. We can manage."

"They're not mine, Elizabeth. I'm just the delivery girl. People started showing up at the Inn before dawn with things for you and your family. Many of them were members of the mob last night ... and not very proud of it now. Rachel picked out some things for you and Carolyn - she's great at guessing sizes, you know. She called me and asked me to bring them to you."

Elizabeth bursts into tears.

"Mom!" Carolyn cries as she runs back to her mother and hugs her. "Mom, it's all right. It's all right."

"I know, Carolyn!" Elizabeth cries. "That's why I'm crying! I'm crying for what we _have_, not for what we lost." She waves a hand at the clothes on Alexis' arm. "For what we _have_, especially the friends we didn't know we had."

Alexis, close to tears herself now, says, "Oh, Elizabeth." She drops the clothes on Carolyn's bed and hugs Elizabeth from the left while Carolyn hugs her from the right.

There is another knock on the door and a voice says, "Mrs. Stoddard? It's Roxanne. May I come in?"

Through her tears, Elizabeth says, "Yes. Come in, Roxanne."

Roxanne comes in, sees the 3 crying women, and says, "Oh no."

"It's all right, Roxanne," Elizabeth says. She explains about the clothes and her reaction to them.

"Then I've made it worse, Miss Elizabeth. I brought you these." She holds up the hanger.

"Mom!" Carolyn cries as she runs to Roxanne. "Mom, you have to wear the clothes Roxanne brought! Look at them. Think how they'll go with your eyes." She lifts the sleeve of the jacket with one hand and wipes the tears from her blue eyes with the other.

Alexis, who also has blue eyes, says, "She's right, Elizabeth. That outfit would look great with your eyes."

Roxanne says, "Miss Elizabeth, I have to admit, it was your eyes I was thinking of when I picked these out."

Roxanne has brought a light blue blouse and a darker blue pants suit.

Elizabeth looks at the outfit and remembers how great it looked on Roxanne when she wore it to work. Then her blue eyes look into Roxanne's blue eyes above the half-moon-glasses and she says, "The eyes, the _blue_ eyes, have it." Elizabeth gets out of bed. She hugs Roxanne, kisses her on the check, and says, "Thank you, Roxanne."

"You're welcome, Miss Elizabeth," Roxanne says as she returns the hug. "I'm just sorry it needed doing."

"Amen to that."

"Roxanne!" Carolyn exclaims. "You painted your nails!"

"Yes," Roxanne says sadly. "I admired Dr. Hoffman's nails at the Happening so much that I painted mine the next day."

"Dr. Hoffman? Oh ... ah ... " Carolyn is now sorry that she said anything.

"Poor Julia," Elizabeth interrupts, to bail Carolyn out. "She brought so many of her things to Collinwood and now they're all destroyed."

"Oh my God," Roxanne cries. "Miss Elizabeth, I was hoping that someone had told you by now ... so I wouldn't have to."

"What are you talking about?" Elizabeth says, while fighting to not burst into more tears ... not yet anyway. She _knows_ what Roxanne is talking about.

And to herself, Elizabeth says firmly, over and over again,  
"Blood is thicker than water.  
BLOOD IS THICKER THAN WATER!"

Alexis says nothing, waiting for Roxanne to speak. She has heard about the tape Angelique played. She has been hoping it wasn't true.

Roxanne says, "I was at the cannery fire last night, crying my eyes out, when Angelique showed up. She played a tape of someone impersonating Mr. Collins ... your cousin Barnabas I mean, not your ... _brother_." Roxanne shudders as she says, " ... _brother_."

Elizabeth does not ask why Roxanne shuddered when she referred to Roger. She hired Roxanne while the cannery was being rebuilt. They worked from Collinwood's drawing room. Roxanne helped Elizabeth with the paperwork and all the other little details.

And Roxanne dodged repeated passes from Roger. One day, Roxanne excused herself to go the bathroom. A minute later, Elizabeth decided she wanted a snack, and headed for the kitchen to get an apple. She found Roger pacing the hall outside the bathroom.

Elizabeth stopped and asked, "What are you doing, Roger?"

Roger grinned lasciviously and said, "I'm waiting for the bathroom."

"There are plenty of other bathrooms in the house," Elizabeth said coldly.

"Not like this one," Roger replied, still grinning.

Elizabeth grabbed Roger's ear and pulled him [not quite hard enough to make him cry out] down the hall. Roger was physically strong enough to fight back, he had been strong enough for years. But he never had the guts to fight his big sister.

Elizabeth hissed at him, "Roger, you stay the hell away from Roxanne. She's a great secretary, and I need her. If you frighten her into quitting, you'll be sleeping with the fishes ... right next to _someone else_ who made the mistake of thinking with his cock instead of his brain while under this roof."

Roger went pale. He knew that Paul had been cheating on Elizabeth before he disappeared ten years ago.

"Jesus, Liz," he whispered. "Did you kill Paul?"

Elizabeth smiled and said, "Keep it up and you'll see for yourself." Then she walked away.

In his terror of the moment, Roger forgot what Liz told him and Laura about Jason McGuire's visit to Collinwood, about Paul bringing McGuire to Collinwood the day after Roger and Laura were married and left on their honeymoon ... and about the FBI showing up the next day. When he did remember it, he was even more terrified. If Liz could kill a bad-ass like McGuire ...

And if Elizabeth had known about Roger sniffing around Carolyn 2 months earlier, he would have been sleeping with the fishes already - no matter how much his disappearance and apparent desertion would have hurt David.

"What did this impersonator say?" Elizabeth asks Roxanne. She packs all the innocence she can into the question.

"He confessed to killing the construction workers and the hippies ... and ... Dr. Hoffman."

"Oh my God! Angelique killed Julia too!?"

"Mom!" Carolyn cries as she embraces her mother, and then resumes crying on her mother's shoulder. She wants to comfort her mother, but she also wants to hide her face from Roxanne and Alexis. She fears giving away that she already knew.

Roxanne continues. "That's why the Sheriff and the mob followed Angelique to Collinwood. I ran to the phone booth in front of Lowell's Apothecary to call and warn you, but something was wrong with the phone and I couldn't get through."

"My God, poor Julia. The construction workers and the hippies weren't enough, she had to kill Julia too?"

"Yes, Ma'am. I'm so sorry."

Alexis says, "I heard about that tape. I was hoping it was not true."

Through her tears, Elizabeth says, "Roxanne, I appreciate your loyalty to my family, and your faith in Barnabas, but ... how did you know it was an impostor?"

"It was _Angelique_ who played the tape." Roxanne says this as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I knew long before you called me last night that Angelique was responsible for the fires and the murders."

"Oh, that's right. You never did like her."

"No, Ma'am." Roxanne shudders again, harder than she did when she said " ... _brother_."

Roxanne continues, "I had to tell you before we went to town. I was afraid some of last night's lynch spirit might still be out there. After hearing about those clothes, I feel a lot better about the townspeople. But I still had to tell you about Dr. Hoffman."

"Yes, I was wondering how she raised a mob against us. Thank you for telling us." Elizabeth kisses Roxanne on the cheek again and then says, "Roxanne, Alexis, would you wait outside please while I change? And please give me a few minutes to pull myself together."

Roxanne replies, "Of course, Miss Elizabeth."

Carolyn says, "Nurse Alex, would you please stick around for a while after Mom goes?"

Elizabeth says, "Carolyn, I'm sure Alexis has things to do today." Elizabeth does not like saying this, she knows Carolyn is still frightened by the events of last night. She wants Alexis stay too.

Alexis smiles and says, "Elizabeth, I'm retired, remember. And please don't deprive me of a fresh victim. I will bore Carolyn to tears with stories about my grandchildren and my gardening."

Carolyn says, "Nurse Alex, I would _love_ to hear about your grandchildren and gardening."

Elizabeth says, "Alexis, are you sure about this? If you stay with Carolyn for a while, I will be grateful beyond words, but are you sure?" She is praying that Alexis will stay.

Alexis says, "Yes, I am sure. You get dressed and ... do what ever it takes to put your family's lives back together."

Alexis kisses Elizabeth on the check, and then she and Roxanne step out into the hall.

After Elizabeth puts on the pants suit, Carolyn says, "Oh Mom, we were right. It _does_ look great on you," Carolyn says.

"Does it?" Elizabeth goes into the bathroom to look at as much of herself as she can in the mirror above the sink. Her legs are longer than Roxanne's, so the pants suit is a little short on her. Otherwise, it does look great. And her calves are still good enough to pull off a semi-capri-slacks look. "Roxanne has great taste." She comes back out and says, "Carolyn, don't keep Alexis too long."

"OK, Mom." She hugs her mother tight, and then they kiss each other on the cheek.

Elizabeth opens the door and says, "I'm ready, Roxanne. Shall we go?"

Elizabeth and Roxanne say "Goodbye" to Alexis and Carolyn. Elizabeth and Carolyn exchange one more embrace. Then Elizabeth and Roxanne go out the door and down the hall.

Sheriff Bill Malloy is waiting in the lobby. He rises as the women approach. "Good morning, Liz. Good morning, Roxanne."

The women return the greeting, and then Elizabeth says, "Bill, as I told you last night, the sworn statements will have to wait. My family comes first, and there is a lot I must do today."

"I'm sorry, Liz, but I have some questions that just can't wait."

Roxanne speaks up. "Sheriff, I just told Miss Elizabeth about Angelique's phony tape, the one that sounded like Mr. Barnabas confessing to all those murders."

"I have _new_ questions, Roxanne, and they can't wait." He turns to Elizabeth. "Liz, do you know Schuyler Rumson?"

Elizabeth is surprised by the question. It takes her a moment to reply, "He's the Second Vice President of Angel Bay. I've met him a few times, and didn't like him."

"Do you know Nicholas Blair and his second wife?"

Elizabeth was prepared for this one. "The First Vice President of Angel Bay. I've always suspected that his grandson Nicky learned '_Elizabitch_ Collins Stoddard' from Nicholas. I knew him slightly, and didn't like him, during his first marriage. I have taken great care to avoid situations in which I might be introduced to his second wife."

"Do you know Evan Hanley and his cousin Eddie?"

Elizabeth's mind is now racing and her heart is pounding. She thinks, "My God! How much does it take to feed a newly made vampire? Will it be like this _every_ night?"

But her face and her voice are perfectly calm. The Sheriff's questions are not half as frightening as Josette Victoria's declaration of thirst, or the realization that Carolyn knows about Elizabeth and Julia.

Elizabeth says calmly, "Last year, at a PTA meeting, Evan's mother asked me why Carolyn thought she was too good to go out with her son.  
I replied, 'Evan is sixteen, isn't he?'  
Mrs. Hanley said, 'Yes.'  
I said, 'Then maybe Carolyn said 'No' because she knew that _I _would say 'No.' When I told Carolyn the Facts of Life, I also told her she could start dating at fourteen, but not with boys who were older than she was."

Elizabeth said this knowing that:  
1\. Mrs. Hanley dropped out of high school at 16 to marry her boyfriend, 19 year old Eli Hanley.  
2\. Eli dropped out at 16 to go to work on a fishing boat. All these years later, he is still bottom man on a fishing boat - whichever boat will have him this week.  
3\. Evan was born just 7 months after the wedding.

And Carolyn's reply to her Mother's word that she could start dating at fourteen was, "No, Mom. Not when I'm fourteen, not when I'm fifteen, not when I'm twenty. Dating is the first step in the Great American Mating Dance, the search for a husband. And I will never marry. I won't risk marrying a deserter like Daddy, or a ... _man_ like dear old Uncle Roger." The tone of her voice when she said "... _man_ ..." made perfectly clear her contempt for her Uncle.

Elizabeth did not share Carolyn's words with Mrs. Hanley last year, and she does not share them with the Sheriff now. She does tell the Sheriff, "That was the first PTA meeting Mrs. Hanley had attended in years. And she hasn't been to one since."

"Did you know Nathan Forbes?"

Elizabeth notes the past tense in this question, and it floods her with relief. Maybe Forbes is the only one who is dead. Out loud she says, "Only by reputation: a good fisherman, but a lousy human being. All the captains in town, including mine, have hired and fired him a dozen times.

"Bill, I've been patient, but now I have to ask: why all the questions? And why the past tense about Forbes?"

"Forbes was found dead this morning, in the bed of his pickup truck. Throat ripped out, the same as the construction workers and the hippies."

Roxanne shudders.

Elizabeth replies, "Well, at least in his case you have plenty of suspects. As I said, I only knew him by reputation. And based on that reputation, I would say that everyone who knew him had a motive to kill him. What about the rest of them? Are they dead too?"

The Sheriff is silent for a moment. Then he says, "Last night, about the time the firemen got the cannery fire out, Rumson brought me a confession signed by Blair. It was witnessed by Rumson and ten other Angel Bay executives. He confessed to hiring hoodlums in Boston to kill Dr. Hoffman and the hard hats and the hippies. He claimed he did this on Angie's orders, in order to frame Mr. Barnabas and the whole Collins family."

Elizabeth thinks, "So _that_ is why Barnabas wanted, in his own words, 'the most evil member of the Angel Bay board.' " Out loud she says, "Then maybe they killed Forbes too. Have you arrested Blair?"

"He and his second wife are missing. His car is at Angel Bay, hers is in their garage. So if they are on the run I don't know what they are using for transportation."

"What did they do with ... with poor Julia's body? She had no living relatives, so it's up to me to see that she's given a decent burial."

"The confession doesn't say. But Angelique claimed the cannery fire was to dispose of ... more bodies. Maybe ... "

"Don't say it, Bill! Julia was ... a very dear friend to me. I don't want to think of her being burned like rubbish, not even with Angelique to blame for it." Elizabeth takes a deep breath and then asks, "What about Evan and Eddie?"

"I went up to Collinwood early this morning to take a look and ... think things over. I found Evan's car next to Angie's ... with _her_ radio and spare tire in _his_ trunk. There was blood, a _lot_ of blood, on the driveway. I've spoken to Eddie's parents and Evan's mother. Neither of them came home last night."

Part of Elizabeth's mind thinks, with relief, "A _lot_ of blood. That means Barnabas and Josette Victoria did not do it." Another part of Elizabeth's mind thinks, with fear, "Is Angelique really dead? Killing anyone who messed with her car would certainly be her style."

The Sheriff continues, "I called my brother Bob, and asked him to bring his dogs. May I have your permission to take them to Collinwood, and try to track Evan and Eddie?"

"Of course, Bill. I hope you find them, safe and sound."

But even as Elizabeth speaks, she is asking herself:  
1\. How will the dogs react to the scents of 2 vampires and a werewolf?  
For that matter, how will they react to the scent of a witch?  
2\. Were Evan and Eddie at Collinwood when Barnabas and Josette Victoria returned to go the cave at the bottom of Widow's Hill? If so, how did Barnabas and Josette Victoria react to the presence of 2 thieves at Collinwood - even if the thieves stole from the late Angelique rather than from Collinwood? She resolves to _not_ ask them.

Sheriff Malloy shakes Elizabeth's hand, and says, "Thank you, Liz. I'll see you later. Good morning, ladies."

**NOTES  
**1\. Alexis's car is a pink '68 Country Squire because I once saw such a car. Quentin Bradford, her husband, has a red and white '68 Ford LTD 4-door hardtop because I once knew a couple who had such a car.

To see a 1968 Ford Country Squire [but not a pink one], watch the 1972 movie version of _The Getaway_. Steve McQueen and Ali McGraw's 2nd getaway car is a '68 Country Squire.

2\. Roxanne's car is a red and white 1959 Ford Country Sedan because:  
a. I like '59 Fords.  
b. The '59 Ford section of the book _Cars of the Fabulous 50's _includes a photo of a red and white Country Sedan. And I repeat, what kind of a name is that for a station wagon?  
c. I can refer you to a movie with a '59 Ford in it. The police car in _Psycho_ [the original, not the remake] is a black&amp;white '59 Ford 4-door sedan.

3\. The blue blouse and pants-suit were inspired by:  
A. the blue eyes of all four actresses in the scene.  
B. the blue ensemble that Barbara Blackburn wore as Carolyn in an episode of the 1991 version of _Dark Shadows_: sweater, miniskirt, hose, boots.

4\. For more details on how Jason McGuire came to sleep with the fishes,  
please see my story "Elizabeth's Secret."

For more details about Roger sniffing around Carolyn in August 1972, and Carolyn's reaction, please see my story "Roger &amp; Carolyn."


	5. Chapter 5 Tuesday, Part 2

**_Dark Shadows 2  
_****"Chapter 5: Tuesday, Part 2 - The Hounds of Collinwood"**

A green 1964 Jeep Gladiator pickup truck stops behind the Sheriff's white 1968 Plymouth Fury in the circular drive in front of the ruins of the great house of Collinwood. Bob Malloy [Richard Jenkins], the brother of Sheriff Bill Malloy, gets out. Two excited beagles run back and forth in the bed of the truck.

Bob is a successful farmer who lives inland of Collinsport. He is also an ardent hunter with the best dogs in the county.

The 2 brothers shake hands, and Bill says, "Thanks for coming, Bob. I don't have to tell you, the parents are frantic. I sure hope you can find Evan and Eddie."

"We'll do our best, Bill," Bob replies as he opens the tailgate and lets the beagles out. He prefers beagles over bloodhounds. He leads the dogs towards Evan's Oldsmobile, as Bill advises him to beware of the broken glass in front of Angie's Barracuda.

The dogs yelp and try to run away when they encounter scary smelling tracks.

"What the hell! They never did that before, except at the construction site," Bob says as he struggles to control them.

Bill shivers. And he has not told his brother about the scary shit he saw in front of Collinwood last night.

And neither brother mentions what they both fear.

Bob finds a path to the Olds that does not cross the tracks of a vampire or a witch or a werewolf. He lets the dogs get a nose-full of the seats and floorboards. At Bill's suggestion, he also lets them smell a large patch of coagulated blood. Then he lets them lead the way.

The dogs go straight down the driveway. They go through the gap in the stone wall that surrounds Collinwood and its lawns.

When the dogs turn right on the path to Widows' Hill, the Malloy brothers look at each other in dismay. But neither of them is surprised.

**NOTES  
**1\. Jack Palance played the title characters in 2 Dan Curtis Productions:  
a. _Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde_ [1968]  
b. _Dracula_ [1973].

Mr. Palance played circus boss Johnny Slate in the TV series _The Greatest Show On Earth_. It ran for one season, 1963-1964 [the 1st season of _Burke's Law_ ] on ABC, the same network that broadcast the original _Dark Shadows_. The show was sponsored by Kaiser Jeep Corp., and there were lots of commercials for the Jeep Gladiator pickup truck.

2\. Richard Jenkins played the newspaper editor in _The Witches of Eastwick_ [1987],  
Michelle Pfeiffer's 1st witch movie.

He played the cop in _Wolf_ [1994],  
Michelle Pfeiffer's 1st werewolf movie.

He played "The Father" in _Let Me In_ [2010],  
Chloe Grace Moretz's 1st vampire movie.


End file.
